Author: Unknown
Published on: 23/01/2025 | 00:00:00
AI Summary:
The far-right Freedom Party (FPO), founded in the 1950s by a man who had been a senior officer in Hitler’s elite paramilitary SS, is on the verge of taking power in Austria. On January 6, the country’s President Alexander Van der Bellen reluctantly granted FPO leader Herbert Kickl the mandate to form a coalition government after a centrist bid to assemble one without the FPO collapsed unexpectedly. The FPO, which came first in the September election with 29 Herbert Kickl’s attack on Austrian intelligence was followed by some of Europe’s most significant spying scandals. In 2019, then-OVP leader Heinz-Christian Strache was videotaped entertaining bribes from a purported Russian oligarch, which led to the downfall of the government. The gas offtake deal running until 2040 is now set to be at the core of legal disputes around the end of Russia’s gas deliveries via Ukraine to central Europe. Austria is also home to one of Europe’s largest natural gas storage hubs. Baumgarten has historically been a key distribution point for Russian gas going west. The European Union seems unable to do much to stop the rise of the FPO. FPO-led government in Austria appears to be an inevitability. It has never been used and appears unlikely to ever be. The rise of the far right in Austria is not solely of its own making. Germany’s Alternative for Deutschland (AfD), which also endorses “re-migration” policies, is posed to come in second. Europe’s liberalism is in crisis – in Austria, in Germany, and beyond. Kohr’s vision was based on creating not a “United States of Europe” but adapting Switzerland’s model of cantonal sovereignty. As the FPO’s rise prove, they have already given up on using the federal powers they gave Brussels to oppose far-right governments.
Original: 1697 words
Summary: 307 words
Percent reduction: 81.91%