OREANDA-NEWS. Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen has sworn in as the new chancellor of the republic, the former foreign minister of the country, Alexander Schallenberg, who is shown in the photo. This is reported by der Tagesspiegel.

The politician represents the Austrian People's Party (ANP). Van der Bellen also dismissed Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who announced his resignation on October 9, following an investigation into alleged complicity in bribery and breach of trust.

The post of Foreign Minister will now be taken by Michael Linhart. Since 2018, he served as the Austrian Ambassador to France, and for a long time was also the Secretary General of the Foreign Ministry.

Schallenberg's candidacy for the post of chancellor was proposed by Sebastian Kurz. Both politicians are reported to have worked together for years. 52-year-old Schallenberg was born on June 20, 1969 in Bern (Switzerland) in the family of an Austrian diplomat (ambassador) of noble origin. A lawyer by training, he studied at the universities of Vienna and Paris. Since 1997 he has been working in the Austrian Foreign Ministry.

Earlier, the Austrian Prosecutor's Office for Investigating Economic and Corruption Crimes on Wednesday, October 6, confirmed that an investigation is underway against Sebastian Kurz and nine other persons in a corruption case. The ex-chancellor commented that all investigations against him are being conducted without specific evidence, recalled the presumption of innocence and stressed that the decision on guilt can be made not by the public, but by the court.