The party on the brink of leading Austria would bring the already conservative country into a growing group of countries shifting to the far right of European politics. It promoted Nazi slogans, flattered Russia and drew warnings from Holocaust survivor groups. It campaigned on promises to deport immigrants and ban political forms of Islam.
The Freedom Party, known as FPÖ, and its firebrand leader, Herbert Kickl, were given the opportunity to form a coalition this week after efforts to block it from power collapsed. If they succeed in forming a government, it would be a shock to Austria’s political system and to Western Europe, where far-right parties are surging in France, Germany and elsewhere.
But that’s not surprising.
The rise of the Freedom Party follows the growing acceptance of the far right in Austrian politics. Its growth has been aided by scandals and ideological shifts in the mainstream Conservative Party, which has led Austria’s government for 15 of the past 25 years.
Unlike neighboring Germany, where all other parties refused to include the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany in the federal ruling coalition, Austria’s other parties allowed the Freedom Party to share power for several years as a junior partner.
The Liberal Party broadened its appeal in recent elections with an anti-establishment message harshly criticizing immigration, COVID-19 restrictions, the European Union and support for defending Ukraine against Russian aggression. The party won the support of blue-collar workers, university graduates, and, crucially, women. It was the most popular party among Austrian voters under 35 in this summer’s European Parliament elections.
“The idea that the FPÖ is politically taboo is the idea that the train has long since left the station,” said Laurenz Ennser-Jedenastik, a political scientist at the University of Vienna.
The Freedom Party was founded in the 1950s by former members of the Nazi paramilitary SS. Initially largely avoided, it gradually became part of the political system.
The party first entered national government alongside the progressive Social Democrats in 1983 and has served in four ruling coalitions since then, the most recent just six years ago. It is also active at the state level and has associations in most of Austria’s nine states.
Until the late 1980s, the Liberal Party was a small, elite group primarily associated with certain nationalist university clubs. The new leader, Jörg Haider, adopted campaign rhetoric harshly criticizing foreigners to attract more voters.
This focus became the driving force of the modern political party, and was sharpened and strengthened by Mr. Kickl, who wrote a speech for Mr. Haider early in his career. Mr. Kickl led the party with increasingly provocative slogans, including the xenophobic “Viennese blood – too many foreigners help no one.”
In 2017, the Liberal Party joined a coalition with the conservative People’s Party. Karin Kneissl, the Liberal Party’s elected foreign minister, was widely criticized for dancing at her wedding to Russian President Vladimir V. Putin in 2018. She later moved to Russia.
The administration and coalition quickly collapsed in 2019 amid a scandal involving hidden cameras, a fake Russian heiress and a former Liberal leader.
During his administration, Mr. Kickl served as Minister of the Interior, tasking him with immigration control, a topic essential to the party’s platform.
He made headlines at the time by suggesting that refugees be ‘concentrated’ in centralized facilities. Although Mr. Kickl later claimed he had not meant to be provocative, many believe his use of a Nazi-era phrase referring to concentration camps was intentional.
Nor is it isolated. Mr. Kickel’s party has repeatedly referred to the “Volkskanzler”, the term “people’s chancellor” later used by Hitler.
While party members wanted to tone down their anti-immigrant rhetoric, Mr. Kickl leveraged his raw, emotional appeal to Austrian-born workers. He expressed frustration with the influx of refugees into Austria from the Middle East and later Ukraine. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, he rallied against vaccine mandates, lockdowns and mask wearing.
During his campaign last fall, Mr. Kickl promised to build an “Austrian fortress” through strict border controls, deporting immigrants and suspending asylum rights for refugees. This would require tearing up the EU agreement on migration. He called for a rollback of measures to combat climate change and a refocus on fossil fuels.
He has also pushed for political changes that some analysts say will push Austria toward a more authoritarian model of government similar to that of Hungary’s Viktor Orban. These changes include a new referendum process that allows a relatively small number of voters to force a national vote to overthrow the government or remove individual ministers.
Mr. Kickl’s platform attracted many voters, and the party won the largest number of seats in September’s parliamentary elections. “There is a demand for a certain toughness in politics,” said Christoph Hofinger, an Austrian election researcher.
For some, it was alarming. After the election, Christoph Heubner, senior vice-chair of the International Auschwitz Committee, said the victory had added “a new layer of awareness to their fears and concerns” for Holocaust survivors.
The Liberal Party partly benefited from the People’s Party’s problems. The group easily won the premiership in 2017 after swinging to the right on many issues. However, the People’s Party quickly fell into a series of scandals, including one related to rigged opinion polls released to the media. It has also faced voter discontent over inflation and Covid restrictions, along with its most recent coalition partner, the Green Party.
After the election loss, the incumbent People’s Party prime minister, Karl Nehammer, said he would not form a coalition with Mr Kickle. Many saw the promises made during the campaign as a play to keep him as prime minister rather than an ideological position. That’s because the two political parties have a long history of cooperation in state and federal government.
“There was no fundamental criticism of the FPÖ’s democracy or rule of law,” Ennser-Jedenastik said.
Despite months of effort, the People’s Party was unable to form a coalition government without the far right. And Mr Nehammer announced his resignation as prime minister this week, clearing the way for the Liberals to take the lead in a coalition government.
In a coalition government, Mr Kickl will not be able to deliver on all of his promises. The next Austrian government will have to address a budget deficit, which could hamper his economic agenda, which includes tax cuts and increased social spending.
But the party’s popularity will give him a powerful voice as he pushes for policy changes targeting foreigners and refugees, according to analysts. One of them would be cutting social services for people who don’t speak German or reducing financial support for refugees.
During the fall elections, 29% of Austrians voted for the Liberal Party. According to current opinion polls, voter approval ratings are over 35%.
“If Kickl feels that the other side is not taking these talks seriously, he will just get up from the table and force early elections,” Mr. Hofinger said.
