VIENNA (Reuters) – Austrian former Chancellor Sebastian Kurz will issue a “personal statement” at 11:30 a.m. (1030 GMT), his conservative party said in a statement on Thursday, soon after media reports emerged that he plans to withdraw from political life.
Kurz, 35, quit as chancellor in October at the behest of his coalition partner, the Greens, after prosecutors placed him under investigation on suspicion of corruption offences. He remains leader of his party and a lawmaker.
Kurz bowing out would be a shock to Austrian politics as many conservatives believed his successor Alexander Schallenberg, a career diplomat, was merely intended to be a place-holder until Kurz could clear his name and return.
Until October he was widely expected to remain chancellor for years. His People’s Party is one of the main traditional parties in Austria but since he took over as leader in 2017 it has largely been built around him, leaving no obvious choice to succeed him as its strongman.
Kurz has insisted he has done nothing wrong and he intends to clear his name both in the corruption case, in which he is one of 10 people being investigated on suspicion of varying degrees of breach of trust, corruption and bribery, and in a separate perjury investigation against him.
Tabloid newspaper Kronen Zeitung first reported on Thursday morning that Kurz planned to step down and said the impetus came from the recent birth of his first child, a boy.
(Reporting by Francois Murphy; Editing by Peter Graff and Alison Williams)
