EPA
It looks like Europe’s next national leader will come from the far right. Herbert Kikl is in a good position to become the new Austrian chancellor, and the European Union establishment is preparing for new pains and a new blow to the stomach, which will make it difficult for Europe to fight against Russian President Vladimir Putin, Politico writes.
Kikl, who will become Austria’s first far-right leader since World War II, has made no secret of his admiration for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and is likely to play a similar game: cooperate with the Kremlin, clash with the EU “mainstream” and pursue a hard-line policy in the areas like migrations.
If his Freedom Party (FPÖ) takes power, it will mean that a significant part of the EU, from Hungary to Austria to Slovakia under Prime Minister Robert Ficz and potentially to the Czech Republic, where former Prime Minister Andrej Babiš is leading in upcoming polls ahead of the October elections, will be in favor. Russia three years after Putin’s special military operation on the soil of Ukraine.
This, Politiko states, evokes disturbing memories in Brussels, which in 2000 watched the FPÖ under the leadership of one of Kikl’s predecessors, Jörg Haider, become part of the Austrian ruling coalition. At that time, other governments within the EU cut off bilateral contacts with Vienna.
If he becomes chancellor, Kikl will go one step further than Haider. Yesterday, coalition negotiations with the center-right Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) began after a breakdown in negotiations between the main parties.
The first victim could be Ukraine
The similarities between Kikl and Orban, whom he called a “role model”, are striking. Just like Orban, the FPÖ is counting on Russian gas, is highly critical of sanctions against Russia and wants to cut aid to Ukraine.
What is worrying for the EU, especially in areas where agreement between all 27 governments is needed, is that the duo would likely work together to block major initiatives. Orbán has been a nuisance to Brussels for years, although in the end he would often succumb to political pressures, such as the EU enlargement a little over a year ago. But Hungary and Austria acting together could represent a force against which the Union would have to fight much harder.
It is not difficult to imagine that the first victim could be Ukraine. “The European Union is currently following a course of escalation at every step, which could end in the third world war,” reads the program of the Kikl party.
Sanctions against Russia make the EU “partially responsible for the suffering and death in Ukraine and Russia only fuels further conflict”, according to Harald Vilimski, the leading candidate of the FPÖ for the EU elections.
Kiklo’s party repeats the claim of the newly elected US President Donald Trump that the EU should adopt a “peace policy” in order to force Ukraine to negotiate. The party has vowed to block any aid to Ukraine through the European Peace Fund.
In 2016, the party even signed a “friendship agreement” with Putin’s United Russia party in which the two sides agreed to exchange information and hold regular joint consultations.
Echoes of the Nazi period
While Kikl emphasized after Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022 that this friendship agreement has since expired, the party still has a favorable view of Russia. The visits of Orban and Fitz to Moscow were described by the Austrian far-right as “real peace diplomacy”.
Kickl, who declared himself People’s Chancellor (Volkskanzler) during the 2024 election campaign, a term that came to the fore when the Nazis took power in Germany in 1933, is also considering a complete reform of Austria’s asylum system.
He promised to preserve the “homogeneity” of the Austrian people by suspending the right to asylum through the “state of emergency law” and by advocating for the “consistent re-emigration” of asylum seekers. That would be a clear violation of EU law.
The party’s program advocates hosting European migration centers in third countries for “millions of people” and suspending EU payments if the bloc fails to keep its promise to “protect” its external borders.
The FPÖ also aims to overturn the European Green Deal, a set of EU policies aimed at making the bloc carbon neutral, which it sees as one of the main causes of Europe’s lack of competitiveness. “Strict EU regulations must be broken,” the party program states.
A precedent for Germany
In Germany, Kikla is celebrated by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), second in the polls ahead of the elections in February. Although the AfD and FPÖ do not sit in the same pan-European group in the European Parliament, they are closely linked, fueling fears in Berlin that Austria could set a precedent for Europe’s biggest economy and closest neighbour.
Kikl’s attempt to form a government was met with criticism from almost the entire political spectrum in Germany.
– The situation in Austria shows what happens when you are no longer able to form an alliance – said German Minister of Economy Robert Habeck from the Greens for public radio Deutschlandfunk.
On the other hand, Alice Weidel, co-president of the AfD, called on Germany’s center-right to tear down the “sanitary cordon” towards the far right and consider entering a coalition government, a request that the conservatives have so far steadfastly refused.
Source: www.vesti-online.com
