Austria: Coalition partner calls for Kurz to be replaced

BERLIN (AP) — The junior partner in Austria’s governing coalition is calling on Chancellor Sebastian Kurz’s party to replace him with an “irreproachable person” after prosecutors said Kurz is a target of a corruption investigation. The chancellor showed no sign of budging on Friday. Prosecutors’ announcement earlier this week that Kurz and nine others are under investigation on suspicion of breach of trust and bribery has led to a crisis in the governing coalition of his conservative Austrian People’s Party and the Greens, which took office in January, 2020. Kurz, who became the People’s Party leader and then chancellor in 2017, has denied wrongdoing and made clear he doesn’t plan to step down. His party has closed ranks behind him.