President Van der Bellen has voiced reservations in the past about the FPÖ because of its criticism of the EU and its failure to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The party opposes EU sanctions on Moscow, citing Austria’s neutrality, and many of its MPs walked out of a speech to the parliament in Vienna last year by Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky.
On Monday, Austrians had mixed feelings about the election results.
“I find it really sad that people get so close to radical right-wing ideas and ignore history,” Nikolai Selikovsky, a resident of Vienna – which predominantly voted for the Social Democrats – told AFP.
“It also shows the failure of the other parties that they can’t talk to each other constructively.”
“I’m asking myself what we did wrong in the past 75 years,” Karin Grobert, a commuter, told Reuters. She expressed concern that Austria will shift further to the right if coalition talks fail.
But Josef Binder, a 57-year-old carpenter who voted for FPÖ, said there was no reason other parties could not cooperate with Kickl.
“They also have to realise, the other parties, that if they negate 29% of voters, that that’s actually not okay, it’s undemocratic,” he added.
Some worried about what the FPÖ’s policy of remigration could mean for them.
Berat Oeztoprak, a 22-year-old kebab seller in Vienna, told Reuters: “What I might fear is that many will no longer be allowed to stay here.”
He added: “I was born in Austria and I know that I belong here. I also did two years in the army and I have a badge. And I also served for the state for two years, I pay my taxes, I’m nice to the people here, they’re just as nice to me.”
Kickl’s victory is the latest in almost a year of vote successes for radical right-wing parties in Europe.
Italy’s Giorgia Meloni heads a right-wing coalition as leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party and Germany’s AfD topped the polls in the eastern state of Thuringia last month. France’s National Rally won the vote in European elections last June.
Unlike Kickl, Italy’s prime minister has given her full backing to the EU’s defence of Ukraine in the face of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
AfD co-leader Alice Weidel congratulated Kickl, posting a picture of the two together, and Marine le Pen of the National Rally said “this groundswell carrying the defence of national interests”, external, after the votes elsewhere in Europe, confirmed the “people’s triumphs everywhere”.
Geert Wilders said times were changing, and that “identity, sovereignty, freedom and no more illegal immigration/asylum” was what millions of Europeans were longing for.
Kickl has tapped into fears about immigration in Austria and he has made the most of anger at the government’s handling of the Covid pandemic, embracing conspiracy theories about obscure treatments for the virus.
For Kickl and his party, Sunday’s election victory represents a significant recovery from 2019, when they came a distant third in the wake of a video sting scandal that engulfed their former leader.
Source link : https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8rdygy5888o
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Publish date : 2024-09-29 07:00:00
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