A far-right leader in Austria resigned over a video raising questions about Russian influence. Now the chancellor is calling for snap elections.
Saturday, May 18, 2019 2:26 PM EST
The scandal comes at an important political moment in the European Union. Across the Continent, far-right, populist leaders are campaigning hard before next week’s elections for the European Parliament and seem poised to increase their share in the chamber.
By Katrin Bennhold and Christopher F. Schuetze
May 18, 2019
BERLIN — Austria’s chancellor called for snap elections after the country’s far-right vice chancellor resigned on Saturday over a secretly filmed video from 2017 that showed him promising government contracts to a woman claiming to be the niece of a Russian oligarch.
The episode renewed questions about whether Russia had a direct line into a government at the heart of the European Union.
“After yesterday’s video, enough is enough,” Chancellor Sebastian Kurz told a room packed with reporters on Saturday night in the capital Vienna. He said he had asked Austria’s president to hold a snap election “as soon as possible.”
The video was the worst in a series of missteps that threatened the stability of Austria’s governing coalition. It also raised concerns about whether Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache’s far-right Freedom Party had been actively working to undermine liberal democracy and media freedom in the country while helping conservative Chancellor Sebastian Kurz govern as the junior party in his coalition.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/18/world/europe/austria-strache-resigns-video.html?emc=edit_na_20190518&ref=cta&nl=breaking-news
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