by HASNAIN KAZIM, KATRIN KUNTZ, WALTER MAYR, & BARBARA SUPP
The Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) is led by Heinz-Christian Strache (left) while the party’s presidential candidate is Norbert Hofer (right). The party is radically opposed to immigration and rabid in its criticisms of Islam
For someone who, it is said, wants to fundamentally change the country, Norbert Hofer seems quite relaxed. He is sitting there sipping his tea with a smile on his face and talking about all that he wants to accomplish should he be elected president of Austria.
It is a recent Friday morning, shortly before an important press conference, but Hofer is not to be rushed. His ornate office is located on the second floor of the parliament building in the heart of Vienna, where he — for the time being — occupies the position of third president of the Nationalrat, Austria’s parliament. On May 22, though, he is seeking to make history. Were he to win the second round of presidential elections on that day, he would become the first candidate ever from the right-wing populist Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) to move into the Hofburg Palace, the former imperial seat that now serves as the office of the country’s president.
If he wins, and his chances are good, Austria would have a president who is “decisively opposed to forced multiculturalism, globalization and mass immigration.” He has blasted his opponent, Green Party candidate Alexander Van der Bellen, as a “fascist, green dictator.”
As in Germany, the position of president in Austria is largely symbolic despite being the country’s highest representative. But there are key differences. For one, the president is elected by popular vote, giving the office holder the kind of electoral legitimacy that the president of Germany does not have. For another, the Austrian president is commander in chief of the country’s military. Beyond that, though, were Hofer elected, he would have political power domestically as well.
Hofer says he doesn’t understand all the agitation surrounding his candidacy and all the talk of a “presidential putsch” from editorialists and experts on the constitution. He doesn’t understand the concern that he, a candidate from the far right, would be in a position to dismiss the government, dissolve parliament and name a new chancellor of his choosing. The Austrian constitution gives the president the ability to do all of that, in theory. Thus far, though, no president has ever sought to exploit the full extent of those powers.
The FPÖ candidate does admit, however, that he reserves the right to intervene. “Of course, if a government has been in office for years and the situation in the country is becoming worse and worse, then it will be dismissed in the end.”
Things haven’t gone that far yet, but the chancellor is already history. On May 9, Chancellor Werner Faymann of the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) stepped down unexpectedly. It was the most recent climax in an ongoing development that has rocked the foundation of Austrian postwar political certitude. Since World War II, cooperation between the SPÖ and the center-right Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) has formed the backbone of the country’s stability. Should Norbert Hofer be elected president, it would be a further milestone in that erosion: In the first round of elections on April 24, he won fully 35 percent of the vote.
From Outrageous to Reality
All of Europe is looking this week to Austria, this small country in its midst where an eventuality considered by many to be outrageous may soon become reality. This reality, though, comes in the guise of a harmless, friendly face. Norbert Hofer is a 45-year-old trained airplane technician from the state of Burgenland, just southeast of Vienna. He is the father of four and his wife, his second marriage, is an elderly care professional. Hanging above his desk in parliament is a framed image of Article 1 of the constitution, which says of the Austrian Republic: “Its law emanates from the people.”
Will the people of Austria really elect a right-wing populist to become their highest representative on Sunday? Is Austria in the process of becoming part of that group of European countries, along with Hungary, Poland, Finland and Switzerland, where the right-wing is already part of the government? And if so, how long will it take before the new right-wing movement tears Europe apart?
If one looks geographically at the congratulatory messages the FPÖ candidate Hofer received following his triumph in the first round of presidential elections, a checkered pattern of new European nationalists emerges. Marine Le Pen from the French party Front National was first, followed by the Lega Nord of Matteo Salvini and Forza Italia, under the leadership of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. From the Netherlands, congratulations came from PVV head Geert Wilders and from Germany, plaudits were sent by the right-wing populists from the Alternative for Germany (AfD). The right wing in Europe is becoming organized and developing contacts across the Continent. The election on Sunday is far more than just a purely Austrian affair.
Across Europe, large, mainstream parties are losing power and influence. It has happened in Spain, France and Germany, but nowhere has the phenomenon been as dramatically visible as during the first round of the presidential elections in Austria. Hofer came in first place followed by Green candidate Van der Bellen. An independent candidate came in third place. Only then did the candidates of the SPÖ and ÖVP — the two parties that currently form the governing coalition — follow in fourth and fifth place. Together, they didn’t even managed 23 percent of the vote.
Both parties are in turmoil. After Faymann’s resignation, the SPÖ scrambled to quickly find a new chancellor, ultimately choosing an outsider: Christian Kern, head of the Austrian national railway. At the ÖVP, meanwhile, the days of the party’s leader Reinhold Mitterlehner are likely numbered, with Sebastian Kurz, Austria’s young foreign minister, standing by to take over.
Lessons for Europe
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