Austria’s Kurtz resignation sparks political row in Greece
The resignation of Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz amid a corruption inquiry has sparked a political row in Greece on Sunday. SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras unleashed an attack on the government claiming that the government majority in the parliamentary Committee on Institutions and Transparency has been blocking efforts to place under scrutiny what he alleges are politicized opinion polls published in Greek media.
“Kurtz is being investigated and resigning for approximately 1 million euros while more than 30 million euros of public money has already been given to the Greek media by [Prime Minister Kyriakos] Mitsotakis, and everything is fine,” said Tsipras, claiming that Kurtz’s resignation is a sign that the checks and balances work in Austria when there is silence in Greece.
Government spokesperson Giannis Oikonomou quickly retorted that the opposition party leader should “refresh his memory” on politicized opinion polls by looking at publications friendly to his own party. Oikonomou attached a headline published a few weeks before the July 2019 elections by a publication friendly to SYRIZA which featured an opinion poll which suggested that SYRIZA was polling much closer to the eventual winner New Democracy than the eventual 8.5% difference on election night. [With information from AMNA]
