Austria’s young leader takes austere approach to office
Only a few years ago, when the young Sebastian Kurz ran for a local council, he was ridiculed for his cheesy campaign literature. It showed him posing beside a Hummer emblazoned with the slogan "hornymobile" and a blonde woman in a miniskirt perched on its bonnet.
Now, still only 31, he is set to take Europe by storm as Austria’s chancellor and the world’s youngest elected leader. Dubbed the country’s "favourite son-inlaw" for his good looks and old-school Viennese politesse, Kurz led his conservative People’s Party to victory last week on a promise to crack down on illegal migration and asylum abuse.
Born to a middle-class family — his father is an engineer, his mother a teacher — in a modest area of Vienna, Kurz has been described as the youngest but "most conservative" of the "slim-fit generation" of new leaders: youthful politicians such as the Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and French president Emmanuel Macron.
He modelled his election campaign on Macron’s En Marche! movement, and completely overhauled his party. Unlike the French leader, however, Kurz projects an image of modesty and moderation, both in office and in his personal life.
When he became Austrian foreign minister four years ago, he cleared the ministry — a former feudal palace — of expensive historic art and decoration, replacing it with modern art and minimalist design. Allies see in this a metaphor for his plans to overhaul the economy and reform the tax, pension and healthcare systems.
Kurz takes public transport to work, walks the streets without a retinue, refuses to use private jets and travels economy instead — a novelty in a country prone to pomp and circumstance.
In an interview with Der Spiegel magazine, Kurz dismissed concerns about his youth with characteristic elegance: ‘‘If young age is the problem, you can take comfort in the fact that it gets better with each passing day.’’’’
His political trajectory was so steep and swift that he did not have time to complete his law degree and is technically still a student. At 17, he joined his party’s youth branch; at 24, he become a local councillor.
The following year he was elevated to the post of secretary of state for integration, a sensitive job in which he performed well and earned praise from across the political spectrum.
In 2013, at 27, Kurz became Europe’s youngest foreign minister yet. Ignoring the initial ridicule from the press, he handled one of the great offices of state with surprising ease and used it as a stepping stone to the top job.
Despite his success, he still lives in a small flat in his old neighbourhood — Meidling, Vienna’s unassuming 12th district — together with his high school sweetheart, Susanne Thier, an official in the finance ministry.
The couple are fiercely protective of their privacy. While they are seen together socially, Thier, 30, keeps the media at arm’s length.
After repeatedly being asked whether they would marry and have children, Kurz said he would ‘‘definitely want kids some day’’ but that he would prefer to discuss that at home rather than in the media.
Yet despite his studied modesty and overt politeness — after interviews, he is known to have escorted journalists from his office to the gates of the foreign office — Kurz is a formidable political operator: quick-witted during highpressure public debates and ruthless behind closed doors.
As foreign minister, he worked with other central European nations to close the Balkan migration route, and rejected the European Union’s controversial refugee distribution scheme initiated by Angela Merkel, the German chancellor.
Kurz’s tough line on migration won him more than 200,000 new voters, most of them defecting from the far-right, anti-migration Freedom Party (FPO), which has been accused of racism and xenophobia. However, he is now likely to have to form a coalition with the FPO as a junior partner. EU politicians fear Kurz will legitimise and possibly even boost the far-right movement on the continent by getting into bed with Heinz-Christian Strache, the FPO leader, who in his youth was linked to suspected neo-Nazis.
Kurz takes public transport to work, walks the streets without a retinue, refuses to use private jets and travels economy instead.
● The Sunday Times, London