Alexander Schallenberg sworn in as Austria chancellor after Sebastian Kurz quits amid corruption inquiry
Former foreign minister Schallenberg was sworn in by President Alexander Van der Bellen at the Hofburg palace in Vienna. Schallenberg, 52, is a career diplomat and a close ally of “The survey results were published (without being declared as an advertisement) in the editorial section of an Austrian daily newspaper and other media belonging to the same group,” the statement read, adding that “suspected payments were made in return to the media company.”Austrian media have identified the daily newspaper involved in the case as tabloid-format daily Österreich (Austria). The paper has rejected the accusations and denied any wrongdoing in multiple op-eds published this week.Kurz led the ÖVP into government in 2017, in coalition with the far-right Freedom Party, having turned the refugee influx of 2015 into a vote-winner at the ballot box.He arrived in power just as Chancellor Angela Merkel’s grip in neighboring Germany appeared to be weakening. He seemed keen to dismantle at least some of her welcoming approach to migrants and take the continent down a more hardline path, despite insisting regularly on his support for the European project.He and his government lost a vote of no-confidence in May 2019, following a corruption scandal prompted by a secretly-filmed video of his vice-chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache. But they returned to power after winning a general election September of the same year.CNN’s Kara Fox, Martin Goillandeau and Niamh Kennedy contributed reporting.
