Charles Michel looks at as Alexander Schallenberg is welcomed by the European Council President in Brussels, Belgium on October 14th, 2021. VIENNA - Oct 14 Reuters - Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, ridiculed by critics as a mere pawn of his predecessor Alexander Schallenberg, said on Thursday he is emancipated enough after a message of his was mistakenly sent to Alexander Schallenberg's Twitter account.
On Saturday, Kurz stepped down at the behest of his junior coalition partner, the Greens, after they placed him and nine others in custody on suspicion of corruption offence including several senior aides.
Kurz, who denies wrongdoing, remains leader of his party and is now its top lawmaker. Opposition parties say Kurz, a career diplomat and close Kurz ally, is little more than Kurz's puppet and kurz is chancellor in she shadows Short denies that, but a Twitter mishap on Thursday played into his critics' hands. A message announcing my first trip as chancellor featuring a picture of Kurz to Brussels was sent from Schallenberg's account. It was soon deleted and reposted in Schallenberg's archives.
Of course I am emancipated enough. Schallenberg was sworn in as the chancellor of the Republic of Austria on Monday, she told a news conference in Brussels.
That perhaps an error occurred on a social media account, so to say - one has to understand that the situation of the past five days was very challenging for all staff, he added. That has absolutely nothing to do with my understanding of my office and position. Kurz said in his first Statement in the job that he would work very closely with Schallenberg.
He has also not ruled out the possibility of Kurz returning as chancellor in this Parliament if the investigation ends, but the Greens have.
We'll cross the bridge when we get there, he told ORF TV on Wednesday in English.