Christian Strache

Austria's former vice-chancellor and longtime leader of the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) stands trial for alleged corruption on July 6, in a case linked to a scandal that brought down the government.

Even in Austria, Serbs felt like outcasts, Markovic said. "No politician would publicly support the Serbs."

That is, until Heinz-Christian Strache's far-right Freedom Party made an unlikely play for the votes of the second largest national minority in Austria.

The 10th edition of the BIRN Summer School of Investigative Journalism kicked off on Monday in the Montenegrin coastal town of Herceg Novi.

The weeklong summer school brings together journalists from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and the United States.

Examples are legion. When Der Spiegel reported that the far-right Alternative for Deutschland had misappropriated funds, the party's supporters could not have cared less.

Austria's vice chancellor and longtime far-right leader, Heinz-Christian Strache, said on May 18 he was stepping down over video footage that threatened to bring down the right-wing coalition government.

Austria's far-right Vice Chancellor lent support for Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik and his Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, SNSD, in the upcoming elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina at a meeting in Vienna on Monday, according to Bosnian media RTRS and ATV.

Austria is going through a transition, politically. On December 18, the Freedom Party of Austria (FPO) joined the coalition government led by young centre-right Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (of Austrian People's Party or OVP), with the far-right Heinz-Christian Strache (of FPO) as his Vice Chancellor.

In his statement to Tanjug, Damjanovic, who is of Serbian origin and is a member of the Freedom Party (FPO) added that FPO leader Heinz-Christian Strache always had excellent relations with Serbia and a positive attitude towards the country, while the new chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, always supported Serbia.

The cabinet is led by 31-year-old Sebastian Kurz, who is Austria's youngest head of government (chancellor).

The ceremony, that took place before Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen, was accompanied by numerous protests in Vienna, one of which was held in front of his office.

 Austria's conservatives and right-wing populists on Friday agreed to form a coalition government nearly seven weeks after the October 15 election, Deutsche Welle reports. 

People's Party (ÖVP) leader Sebastian Kurz will become the next chancellor and Freedom Party (FPÖ) head Heinz-Christian Strache will become vice-chancellor.