18/06/2019 (Agence Europe) – On Monday 17 June, Heinz-Christian Strache, the former leader of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), announced that he was resigning from the seat he won in the European Parliament on 26 May through the Austrian direct voting system (see EUROPE 12264/24). At the end of May, he had to resign from his post as Vice-Chancellor of Austria and leave the party leadership following the “Ibiza-gate” scandal (see EUROPE 12258/18), which caused the extreme right-wing governing coalition in Austria to collapse after a video was broadcast in which Heinz-Christian Strache said he was willing to offer public contracts to a Russian oligarch in exchange for funding from hidden sources. In the European Parliament, the FPÖ sits in the new far-right “Identity and Democracy” group (see EUROPE 12274/8), alongside the Rassemblement National and La Lega. (MF)