Austria’s leadership is currently experiencing turmoil after a secretly filmed video from July 2017 was released. The video depicted Deputy Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache, leader of the far-right Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ), discussing a plan to trade various government contracts for campaign support with a woman posing as the niece of a Russian oligarch. Strache appears to suggest that the Russian woman buy Austria’s largest tabloid newspaper, the Kronen Zeitung, and turn it into a mouthpiece for the FPÖ.
The video, originally offered to the German daily newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and German magazine Der Spiegel, initiated a political crisis with a magnitude unprecedented since World War II in Austria, according to Washington Post. Within five days of the video’s release, Austria experienced the firing of the far-right Interior Minister Herbert Kickl, a mass resignation of all other FPÖ ministers, the inauguration of an interim expert government and a snap Parliamentary election.
On the afternoon of May 18, Vice-Chancellor Strache resigned and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. called for a snap election to take place in September.
In Strache’s resignation statement Saturday, he apologized but said he was set up in a “political assassination” that illegally used surveillance equipment. However, he eventually conceded that his behavior in the video was “stupid, irresponsible and a mistake.”
The 49-year-old politician said he had been in a state of “increasing alcohol intoxication” and had “behaved like a teenager” in an attempt to “impress the attractive host.” He said he had had no further contact with the woman in the video and she did not donate to his party.
Despite the major changes it brought within Austrian leadership, the video also struck a chord within broader concerns about ties between Russia and vital right-wing populist parties of the European Union due to the fact that the FPÖ is part of a Western government. In 2016, for example, Strache had visited Moscow to sign a “cooperation pact” in accordance with the United Russia party, loyal to Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to AP News.
“I’m actually really surprised to hear about the political and social turmoil Austria is facing currently. They’re obviously a relatively peaceful and quiet country compared to other nations,” said Wootton High School Senior Caitlynn Li. “But the resignation of Strache and the coming elections have certainly alleviated tensions in the political climate. I think they can overcome this.”
Article by MoCo Student staff writer Faith Cheung of Richard Montgomery High School