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Former Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz has had his perjury conviction and eight-month suspended prison sentence overturned by a court in Vienna.
The ruling on Monday removes the main obstacle to a political comeback by the 38-year-old once hailed as the wunderkind of European conservative politics.
Kurz was found guilty of perjury in August last year after a six-month trial. The case, which was opened in 2021, centred on statements he had made while chancellor in 2020 to a parliamentary investigative committee probing alleged corruption in his government.
He was accused of lying under oath after he told the committee he had not played a decisive role in appointing an ally to run Austria’s state holding company, ÖBAG. Kurz said the charges stemmed from false accusations by political opponents.
On Monday an Austrian appeals court found in his favour and that he answered the parliamentary questions correctly.
Kurz became Austria’s foreign minister at just 27 and, by 31, the world’s youngest elected head of government. His ascent revitalised the country’s conservative People’s party (ÖVP), which he rebranded as a slick, media-savvy movement centred around his persona.
He positioned himself as the architect of a modernised conservatism — pro-European yet hawkish on immigration, fiscally disciplined yet pragmatic on welfare. His brand of politics resonated with an electorate unsettled by the 2015 refugee crisis and frustrated with establishment inertia.
That approach still resonates today with the ÖVP, which has taken a tougher stance on migration as part of the new coalition government. The government of Chancellor Christian Stocker, leader of the ÖVP, has moved swiftly to address public concerns about immigration, curbing the right of refugees to bring in their children and close family members.
In an interview with the Financial Times this week, Stocker called for an overhaul to EU asylum rules, which he said were no longer fit for purpose and had helped fan the flames of the anti-immigrant far-right.
After resigning as chancellor in 2021, Kurz embarked on a global business career. He became a strategist for Thiel Capital, the California-based investment firm run by Peter Thiel, a donor to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. He also started a company with Israeli entrepreneur Shalev Hulio, co-founder of the company that developed the Pegasus spyware.
Many analysts and supporters believe Kurz may now consider a political comeback. His spokesperson said he would speak at a press conference on Tuesday.