The attempt to form a government in Austria turns into a test not only for the political life of Austria but for the balances in Europe as a whole, after the apparently inevitable decision of the country’s president Alexander van der Bellen to instruct far-right Free Party (FPÖ) leader Herbert Kikl to form a government.
Kikl, whose party won the September election with 28.8% and took 57 seats in the 183-seat parliament, was for years the FPÖ’s most controversial politician and had played a central role in the handling of the Ibizagate scandal ( which revealed the corruption in the government on the part of the FPÖ and specifically its then leadership, of Heinz Christian Strache and Johan Gudenus) as Minister of the Interior of the coalition government led by Sebastian Kurz and in its overthrow. He is known for his extreme rhetoric, toxic personal attacks and veiled references to the country’s Nazi past of which he (probably) feels somewhat proud. The reference of the former speechwriter of the historical leader of the Austrian extreme right is typical Gerg Haider that if he becomes chancellor he will be “the people’s chancellor”, which – according to commentators and experts – is a direct reference to the Nazi period.
The scripts
In this context, throughout the previous week since the delivery of the mandate to form a government, the analyzes on how Kikl could become chancellor concluded that to achieve this he would have to cooperate with the second largest party – after the September elections – which is the People’s Party (ÖVP) and has 51 seats, since a total of 92 seats are needed to form a government, while the cooperation with the Social Democrats (SPÖ) which have 41 seats is considered out of the question. In the event that this is not possible, the country will go to elections again, a scenario that Kikl has made clear that he sees positively, given the fact that his party – according to opinion polls – in the event of elections can receive up to 35% and comes out thus further strengthened.
Interestingly, the decision to mandate the formation of a government by Van der Bellen to the far-right was taken after talks to form a three-party government between the ÖVP and SPÖ with the smaller neoliberal party NEOS (New Austria), which holds 15 seats, collapsed. The collapse came after the departure of NEOS and thus opened the way for Kikl and the discussion of a far-right government.
The moment is extremely critical, as the caretaker chancellor (who resigned and was expected to be taken over by the minister of foreign affairs of the caretaker government Alexander Sulenberg) and until recently leader of the ÖVP Carl Nehammer he was negative from the beginning regarding cooperation with Kikl and the Liberals, but the new head of the People’s Party Christian Stoker is positive. The dichotomy within the leadership of the People’s Party regarding its cooperation as a small government partner of the extreme right fully reflects the dilemma facing the classic Right in more and more European countries, which also appeared within the European Parliament after the recent European elections, where far-right forces appeared strengthened.
It is noted that at the European level, Kikl’s party belongs to the far-right parliamentary group Patriots for Europe, together with the National Rally of Lepen – Bardellathe Spanish Vox, his League Salvinihis Freedom Party Geert Wildersher Voice of Reason Aphrodite Latinopoulos and other corresponding “patriotic” forces.
Even further to the right…
The attitude of most participants in this group (at least those who did not see the light and joined) is considered pro-Russian by the majority of political forces in the European Parliament, but they are also the main exponents of modern Euroscepticism. After Trump’s victory in the November elections and especially after taking office, analysts believe that these political forces will see an “upgrade” in terms of their influence on European affairs, pushing Europe even further to the right and forcing the traditional Right and conservatives to adapt their own politics to their demands.
The partnership between Kickl and Stocker, at the level of Austria, will certainly mean a tightening of the country’s immigration policy, since the People’s Party has already moved towards more conservative, xenophobic positions, as is also the case at the level of Europe. The main thorn between the “patriotic” forces and the center-right remains – at least until the inauguration of Trump and the policy-making of the new American administration – Ukraine and by extension the economy.
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