Austrian politician Herbert Gicl is a pro-Russian and anti-American conspiracy theorist who, like many coronasceptics, advocates deworming horses as the gold cure for COVID-19 and wants to turn the Alpine country into a “bulwark” against immigration.
He wanted to become the next leader of his country and the next big headache in Europe. In the country, support for his far-right party is growing exponentially Austria’s Freedom Party emerged from neo-fascist movements.
Rising inflation and a surge in asylum applications are fueling discontent with the current government, and with the other main opposition mired in controversy, Kigla’s party has its best chance of taking power in years.
Such a scenario would cause serious problems for the EU, which is already grappling with Hungary. Viktor Orbán is making his country a semi-official country in the middle of the EU.
Pro-Russian sentiments in Europe
But Austria is not the only country in the region prone to urbanism. Neighboring Slovakia is also teetering on the brink of a populist revival. The pro-Russian Smar party leads the polls ahead of early elections scheduled for September. Recall that the party’s leader and former prime minister, Robert Figo, was forced to leave office in 2018 as a result of social protests. Investigative reporter John Kuciak was brutally murdered.
If Fico wins, he promises to end Slovakia’s military aid to Ukraine.
Robert Figo and Viktor Orban at the 2016 Visegrad Group of Heads of Government meeting.
European officials warn that victories for pro-Russian forces in Slovakia and Austria could give Russian President Vladimir Putin a powerful tool against Ukraine.Making it easier for him to undermine EU sanctions and efforts to help Kiev.
“It would be a disaster,” said a senior European Commission official from the region bluntly.
Changes in worldview or expression of discontent?
Giggle is far from winning. Because of his brusque style, he is one of the lowest rated among Austrian politicians.
Also, support for the Freedom Party has proven volatile in the past, and the recent surge may have been driven more by frustration with what many Austrians see as the current government’s dysfunction than hope of recovery under the far-right.
However, the party’s recent successes cannot be ignored.
Brussels position
Gikl, who served as interior minister during the short-lived 2017 coalition between the Freedom Party and former president Sebastian Kurz’s People’s Party, is a familiar face in Brussels. However, he is not fondly remembered. One of Kickel’s first moves as interior minister was to rename Austria’s asylum seeker registration centers “departure centers.”
“He’s not trustworthy,” Metzola said.
Herbert Kigl, Vienna, September 29, 2019
The political scene in Austria
Austria’s next regular election won’t be held until next fall, but lingering tensions within the current coalition led by Chancellor Karl Nehhammer, whose People’s Party currently trail the Freedom Party by eight points, increase the chances of an early vote.
“I didn’t become party leader to hold a referendum, but to win an election,” Gicl said recently.
Gigl has vowed to use Austria’s veto in the European Council to reverse the bloc’s “ignorant” sanctions against Russia.
Orban’s ties to Hungary and Russia, or the motivations for Gikkel
On a recent visit to Budapest, he met his mentor, Orban. Gikl has made no secret of his goal of turning Austria into another Hungary, which he hails as a “bulwark of national self-determination and resistance to globalist interference from Brussels.”
The Freedom Party – founded in the 1950s by ex-Nazis and known internationally for the Ibiza scandal that led to the downfall of Kickal’s predecessor Heinz-Christian Strauch – has long-standing ties to the Kremlin. Strauch signed a coalition agreement with Putin’s United Russia party in 2016.
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Although Gigl says the deal is out of date, he and other members of the Freedom Party have made no secret of their sympathy for Russia. Since the new launch A full-scale war against Ukraine, the party introduced dozens of pro-Russian resolutions in the Austrian parliament. In the past year, it has also issued dozens of press releases calling for the lifting of sanctions against Russia.
Austrian Castle
However, migration is a major theme of the Freedom Party. The number of asylum applications in Austria tripled last year, the largest percentage increase in the EU as a whole. So it’s an issue that has strong community appeal.
In line with Kickl’s strong rhetoric, many of the Freedom Party’s priorities center on cultural identity. For example, an initiative to save Austrian inns in small towns promised grants, but only if recipients served “traditional and regional specialties.”
Another decreed that children must speak German in school playgrounds.
Such comments are often ridiculed by the Austrian media. However, similar policies appeal to many voters.
No more “second fiddle”.
In January, the party came second in a regional vote in Lower Austria, the largest federal state, breaking the People’s Party’s long-standing tradition of an absolute majority. This forced the centre-right to accept an alliance with the far-right in this state.
A similar situation occurred a few weeks later in Salzburg, where the Freedom Party’s strong result secured a seat in the regional government.
At the national level, however, Gigl is unlikely to assume the role of second fiddle. In the past 25 years, his party, acting as the junior partner of the People’s Party, has twice agreed to such a deal, and both alliances have ended in party splits amid corruption and internal divisions.
Gicl says his goal this time is clear: to become a Volkskanssler – the chancellor of the nation.