'It's been looming over us for decades': Austrian voters on the far-right - Guardian

'It's been looming over us for decades': Austrian voters on the far-right

A far-right party has entered Austria’s government. We speak to voters about their reaction and hopes for the future

Protesters demonstrate against the new Austrian government in Vienna this week.

Protesters demonstrate against the new Austrian government in Vienna this week. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Carmen Fishwick and Guardian readers

Sat 23 Dec ‘17 18.00 AEDT

This month Austria became the only western European country with a far-right presence in government after Sebastian Kurz, of the conservative Austrian People’s party (ÖVP), struck a deal with the Freedom party (FPÖ), a nationalist group founded after the second world war by former members of the Nazi party.

Austrians who replied to a Guardian callout say they are outraged by the move and fear the coalition may legitimise far-right sentiment, and increase divisions in society. Anna Labner, 28, a science student living in Vienna, who voted for the Green party in the last general election, says she is deeply worried by the new government. Although she would like to see the FPÖ banned, she says doing so would result in a constitutional crisis.

“I am sure that if this coalition had been inaugurated one or two years ago, there would have been more uproar. But Donald Trump has stirred up so much sensationalism that I have become a bit numb to all the ways I have to worry about our society going downhill,” she says.

There is a fear among many respondents that the ÖVP has swung to the right. They say it has jumped on anti-immigration and anti-refugee sentiment to win votes. At 31, Kurz is the youngest head of government in the world and voters who responded to our callout say they are wary of his motives.

The Austrian chancellor, Sebastian Kurz.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest

The Austrian chancellor, Sebastian Kurz. Photograph: Joe Klamar/AFP/Getty Images

“The ÖVP, with its young and populist right leader, has appropriated most of the FPÖ’s ideas, only stopping short of the party’s traditional closeness with neo-Nazi groups. The ÖVP is not grudgingly forming a coalition government with the FPÖ out of lack of alternatives; they are happily joining forces,” says Labner.

Kurz’s ÖVP won 32% of the vote in October’s elections, securing 62 seats in the 183-seat national council. The FPÖ came third with 26% of the vote and 51 seats. The last time the party entered a coalition government, in 2000, the move was met with sanctions and outrage from Israel and across the EU.

Clemens Schwan, 29, who works for a non-governmental organisation in Berlin, says that despite the FPÖ and ÖVP campaigning for those “left behind” they will have a devastating effect on social investment, housing and the wider economy.

“When the FPÖ joined government for the first time in 2000, the EU marginalised Austria and withdrew its right to vote on EU issues. It is sad to see the European commission congratulating this government. We need a new pan-European coalition against rightwing populist parties in EU governments,” he says.

Many of the respondents say the two main parties – the Social Democrats (SPÖ) and the ÖVP – are to blame for failing to sensibly address voters’ fears. Ingrid Haunold, a freelance writer from Vienna, voted for the new List Pilz, a party founded by a former Green parliamentarian, which entered parliament for the first time after the last election.

“Austria took in many refugees, as we should have, but the government did not do enough to ease people’s fears in regard to cultural and religious differences between mostly Catholic Austrians and the newly arrived, mostly Muslim, refugees,” she says.

A protester against the new government in Vienna.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest

A protester against the new government in Vienna. Photograph: Joe Klamar/AFP/Getty Images

Doris Schneidtinger, a film industry professional and volunteer refugee worker who took part in protests on Monday, says the mood on the street is changing.

“A few months ago people thought [negatively] about refugees, foreigners, LGBTQ [people] … of course, but they often didn’t say it out loud. In the last few days, friends of mine from Iraq or Afghanistan have experienced being spat at in a bus, being called ‘damned refugees’ in the underground,” she says.

Students, feminists and anti-fascist groups took to the streets this week in protest. People held placards reading “Refugees welcome”, “Nazis out” and “No Nazi pigs”. But although many respondents said they had attended protests, turnout was weaker than hoped.

Many respondents like Sabina, a project manager living in Vienna, say the numbers are not indicative of the public mood. She says she, and many of her friends, are taking their protest to social media.

“The idea of taking it to the street is also futile; it won’t improve anything. The trust is already broken and all a large-scale protest could achieve is more instability in the capital. The ones who have influence should be taking action. However, the president approved the coalition so our No 1 hope is gone,” she says.

Schneidtinger agrees that the protest should continue online, and long after this week. “You can keep your eyes open and confront people if you witness racist assaults … protest like this is just as important if not more important than demonstrations.

“The party has been looming over us for decades, always just not making it into the government – except for 2000, but that was very different, because the reaction of the whole world and especially the EU and also the ÖVP was different,” she says.

Not everyone who is against the FPÖ agrees that the coalition is such a disastrous move. Some respondents including Michael Haas who works at Vienna’s Music and Performing Arts’ University, says this is a wake-up call for the main parties, with many hoping there will be snap elections before 2021, after which a new government can be formed.

“After years of a paralysed grand coalition between centre right and centre left, it was unavoidable.

“The Socialist party came second in this election and Austria has a former leader of the Green party as its president. The Greens had self-destructed. TYhe present government remains European in outlook and open in a way that the UK isn’t.

“Austria has a system of checks and balances and I do not see the country heading down the path of parties like the Front National in France or even the UK’s Tory party,” he says.

“I didn’t protest because what would have been the alternative? An extension of a dysfunctional grand coalition under a new leader?”