On Thursday, Sebastian Kurz announced he was leaving politics, barely two months after leaving the head of government.
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The Austrian Conservative Party appointed, Friday, December 3, as its new leader the Minister of the Interior Karl Nehammer, who will thus become the next Chancellor, after the departure of Sebastian Kurz. “Today I was unanimously appointed by the leadership of the ÖVP as party chairman and consequently as candidate for the post of chancellor”, said Karl Nehammer in front of the press in Vienna.
“I am extremely grateful, it is an honor and a privilege that I did not expect”, he added. The 49-year-old politician announced on this occasion a vast cabinet reshuffle. Finance Minister Gernot Blümel has already announced his resignation.
Alexander Schallenberg, that Sebastian Kurz had appointed in October to succeed him in the chancellery after being implicated in a corruption scandal, was declared Thursday evening “ready to leave his post”. He will find his portfolio at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
On Thursday, Sebastian Kurz announced he was leaving politics, barely two months after leaving the head of government. He remained in the direction of his training, of which he also chaired the parliamentary group, but he explained that he saw “a new chapter”, saying to himself “worn out” by recent accusations from the prosecution.
The conservatives have participated in the executive in Austria since 1987 and rule either with the Social Democrats or with the extreme right. In early 2020, they formed an unprecedented coalition with environmentalists. Karl Nehammer will become the fifth Austrian Chancellor appointed to this post since 2016. The date of his inauguration has not yet been set.