Kurz becomes Austria’s chancellor amid anger
Sebastian Kurz became Austria’s 14th postwar chancellor amid public protests over his new government of conservatives and nationalists.
Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen inaugurated Kurz after his People’s Party struck a deal with the nationalist Freedom Party on Friday. Demonstrators marched against the Freedom Party’s participation in the government, albeit with a smaller turnout than in 2000, when the parties first teamed up in coalition.
“We have reached a clear consensus about the fact of European, or European Union, continuity in our foreign policy, as well as respect for fundamental freedoms,” Van der Bellen said at the swearing in ceremony Monday. He said he was confident of “a consensus on important issues” going ahead.
Kurz and Freedom Party leader Heinz-Christian Strache presented a program on Saturday that’s designed to pre-empt concerns the new administration could stray from the EU or dismantle Austria’s institutional setup or welfare state. A new Cabinet in which 31-year-old Kurz is the only experienced government official represents a bigger shift than most of the core policies, analysts said.
“The program shows a clear effort to avoid making too big waves both at home and abroad,” Thomas Hofer, a political analyst and consultant in Vienna, said in a telephone interview. “Overall, they are playing it defensively for the time being so as to preempt huge protests.”
About 3,000 protesters gathered outside Vienna’s imperial Hofburg palace, according to state broadcaster ORF. Hundreds of riot police were posted to keep them away from the ceremony, so as to avoid clashes similar to those 17 years ago, when the new government was forced to shelter in an underground tunnel.
When the Freedom Party, then led by the late Joerg Haider, joined the Austrian government in 2000, the nation was ostracized for several months by other states. While nobody suggests a similar reaction in 2017, Kurz is still determined to “take away worries” in the EU. The Austria Press Agency reported that he will make his first trip as chancellor to Brussels on Tuesday, to see EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk, the head of the body representing member states.
Kurz’s and Strache’s reassurances on Europe contrasted with renewed calls to leave the bloc made by the Freedom Party’s allies during a weekend meeting in Prague.
France’s National Front leader Marine Le Pen congratulated Strache, saying his role in the government was “excellent news for Europe,” The Associated Press reported. Geert Wilders, who heads the Dutch Freedom Party that is not directly linked to the Austrian group of the same name, praised Strache for “achieving an excellent result” in the talks, according to Austrian radio ORF.
World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder in a statement said it “is severely disquieting” that the Freedom Party is entering the Austrian government.
Domestically, Kurz and Strache stopped short of a fully fledged attack against some institutions of the Austrian welfare state such as the Workers’ Chamber, a mandatory-membership body that’s close to the center-left Social Democrats and at the core of the Austrian system of collective wage agreements.
While labor laws are set to be loosened somewhat, business associations and think tanks allied with them say the program is timid and should be reworked once four regional elections have been held next year.