Herbert Kickl faces a rocky road to Brussels if the Freedom Party politician is indeed elected as Austria's next chancellor. Politico is already anticipating that a hostile atmosphere will greet him, and has managed to dig up an official who, like with Hungary, would immediately initiate proceedings against Vienna. Meanwhile, the Fitch credit rating agency recently downgraded Austria's debt management, and the general attitude of European media is evident from a recent opinion piece in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, titled with Nazi undertones: "One People, One Chancellor, One Kickl".
They clearly dislike the right wing. And, of course, they’re not particularly keen on democracy or the people—at least when the results conflict with the interests of the EU’s mainstream. In Austria, nearly one and a half million citizens voted for the Freedom Party (FPO) in the fall, and if elections were held again now, even more would do so. Voters have witnessed Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen’s stubbornness—refusing to grant Kickl, leader of the largest party, the mandate to form a government, to protect democracy from the demos—only to later relent, making a fool of himself. They also saw the mainstream parties’ fumbling and failures during coalition negotiations. Incidentally, the People's Party and the Social Democrats wouldn’t even have a stable parliamentary majority. The entire ossified Austrian political system seems to be in bad shape. Unsurprisingly, Paul Lendvai, the Hungarian-born Vienna publicist, has taken to lamenting the demise of liberal democracy in his weekly column.
Meanwhile, we've reached a point where the prospective majority government party in Vienna cites Hungary and its prime minister as examples to follow: this is how migration policy should be conducted in Europe! For us, who have always viewed Austria as our primary reference point—gawking at shop windows on Mariahilfer Straße, dragging along our grandmothers in the Wartburg to spend their currency quotas on Gorenje appliances—it’s quite a moment to suddenly find ourselves to be the example to follow in the former Habsburg imperial capital. Incidentally, Herbert Kickl is also a founding member, along with Viktor Orban, of the Patriots for Europe group, which aims to represent nation-states in the ranks of the 27 set on forceful centralization, thus increasingly moving away from their original goal. If another head of government could represent this group at EU summits, and if Freedom Party ministers sat on important Brussels decision-making bodies, this would also expand the room to maneuver for Hungarian diplomacy. After the recent change of government in Poland, this support is as needed as a bite of Tyrolean strudel.
The FPO can draw inspiration from Hungary and its leadership not just in its anti-migration policy but also in demonstrating how persistent, steadfast politics—with much work, patience, and good tactical instincts—can withstand sanctions, procedures, smear campaigns, and pressure, and perhaps even the temporary withdrawal of funds.
Of course, this is only possible if the government enjoys stable majority support. Since 2010, Viktor Orban has outlasted three European Commission presidents, two German chancellors, and is about to see the third French president's term expire. At any rate, for us in Hungary, it’s far more entertaining to read that Austria’s best-known political scientist is reassuring Europe that Kickl cannot "Orbanize" Austria because he lacks a majority, than to hear the EU press loudly hail how the Brussels elite has dismantled our sovereignty.
Cover photo: Herbert Kickl
