Sebastian Kurz, Austria's President, Has Resigned In The Wake Of A Corruption Investigation.

He denied allegations that he used government funds to ensure positive coverage in a tabloid. This week's allegations brought his coalition government to the brink of collapse after his junior partner, the Greens, said Kurz was no longer fit to be Chancellor. The Greens have started talks with opposition parties threatening the Chancellor with suspicion next week.

Greens boss and vice-chancellor Werner Kogler welcomed Kurz's resignation and said he was ready to work with Schoenberg. "What is needed now is stability. Therefore, to overcome the impasse, I want to resign to prevent chaos," Kurz said in his resignation statement.

He said he would remain head of his party and continue to sit in parliament. "First and foremost, however, I will, of course, use the opportunity to dispute the allegations made against me," he added.

As chairman of his party, he will attend cabinet meetings. The leader of the opposition Social Democrats said he would pull the strings like a shadow chancellor. Other observers point to his close relationship with Alexander Schoenberg, a professional diplomat who worked with Mr. Kurtz when he first entered the government as Secretary of State.

Another Austrian said two corruption investigations and the collapse of his last coalition government with the far-right extremist FPÖ in 2019 meant that it was time to leave politics altogether for Kurz. Kurz became VP chairman in May 2017 and led his party to victory in elections later that year - and at the age of 31, he became one of the youngest democratically elected heads of government in the world.

The alleged corruption relates to the period from 2016 to 2018 when it was alleged that Ministry of Finance funds were used to manipulate an opinion poll in favor of VP, which was later published in a newspaper.

Although the public prosecutor did not name the newspaper, the daily Oesterreich published a statement on Wednesday contradicting media reports that it had taken tax money on advertising in exchange for publication of a lucrative survey.

Kurz, nine others, and three organizations were investigated "on suspicion of breach of trust ... corruption ... and bribery ... sometimes with varying degrees of involvement," the prosecutor's office for corruption said on Wednesday. Prosecutors had previously searched the office, the Ministry of Finance, and the home and office of the Chancellor's senior staff.

Kurz described the allegations against him as "baseless." He also denied any wrongdoing in a separate investigation being indicted in May on false testimony before a parliamentary committee.