EU warning to Austria’s ‘boy wonder’ leader on far-right deal

THE European Union’s leading figures welcomed the election of Austria’s ‘boy wonder’ but warned him about forming a coalition with the far-right.

Brussels told Sebastian Kurz, who is poised to become the continent’s youngest leader, that he must form a ‘pro-European government’.

Mr Kurz, 31, whose Austrian People’s Party polled 31.4 per cent of the vote after promising a tough line on immigration, is weighing up a coalition with the country’s far-right Freedom Party.

But in a letter of congratulations, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker indirectly warned Mr Kurz about attaching himself with the Eurosceptic party founded by former Nazis.

The Brussels chief said he ‘looked forward’ to the creation of an EU-supporting government.

Mr Kurz, who became a minister at the age of 27, says immigration is his priority after helping close the Balkan route into Europe during the 2015 migration crisis.

Austria has had almost 150,000 asylum claims since 2015, making the country of 8.75million one of Europe’s highest recipients of migrants per person.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she is not ‘dramatically concerned’ about key differences with Mr Kurz.

However, she described the Freedom Party’s 26 per cent share of the vote as a ‘big challenge’ for Austria.

Addressing key differences with Mr Kurz’s approach to migration, she said: ‘If he becomes Austrian chancellor, I will of course go into this more deeply.’

With votes still to be counted, Austria’s sitting chancellor Christian Kern’s Social Democrats have slipped to second place with 27 per cent.