Austria's far-right to control key ministries in coalition government: Spokesman
Austria’s far-right anti-immigration Freedom Party (FPO) is set to take control of the country’s key ministries in the next coalition government, according to a spokesman.
The party spokesman said Saturday that a deal between the conservatives and the far right would give the FPO the control of the interior, defense and foreign ministries.
The official said FPO Chairman Herbert Kickl would take the portfolio for Austria’s Interior Ministry while Mario Kunasek would become defense minister. Karin Kneissl, an international law expert who is no member to the FPO, would run the foreign ministry on the party’s ticket.
Running on a nationalist, ethnocentric platform, the FPO has openly criticized Austria and other European countries for tolerating refugees who began to flee war and poverty in the Middle East and arrived in Europe in 2015. Austria has taken more refugees per capita than many other European countries.
The party has also challenged Austria’s tolerance for ethnic and religious groups, including Muslims, saying the policy could affect the Western values of the country.
The FPO’s significant presence in the next government makes Austria the only Western European country with a far-right party in government. The last time the party entered the government was in 2000. It came third in an October 15 election. The PP won that election with an anti-immigration rhetoric that sometimes overlapped with that of the FPO.
Under the coalition deal reached on Friday, the People’s Party chairman Sebastian Kurz, a young former foreign minister, is expected to become the next Austrian chancellor. His party will control the finance, justice and agriculture ministries, among others.
Kurz has vowed that he would be tough on refugees and would impose a limit on the number of new arrivals, while restricting the current benefits for refugees.
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