Austrians lean further towards far-right as living conditions worsen

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
10 Jan 2023 18:19

The Freedom party (FPÖ) has especially gained momentum over its rhetoric of demonizing migrants and their cultures which appeals to struggling Austrians.

Heinz-Christian Strache, the leader of the nationalist Freedom Party of Austria, speaks to reporters at a Sept. 8 press conference in Vienna. The FPO's position in opinion polls ahead of Oct. 15 elections has forced its moderate rivals to adopt a tougher stance on immigration (JOE KLAMAR/AFP/Getty Images)

The Financial Times reported on Tuesday that the right-wing movement in Austria has been growing at an unprecedented rate in light of deteriorating living conditions which are linked to inflation and the energy crisis which has recently swept the entirety of Europe.

The Freedom party (FPÖ) has especially gained momentum over its rhetoric of demonizing migrants and their cultures which appeals to struggling Austrians.

In November last year, surveys showed that the party was the first choice of 28% of voters - a large increase compared to 11% in mid-2020.

On the other hand, the Social Democrats got about 25% of votes as a party of first choice, whereas the Greens got about 10%.

"The core [FPÖ] message, which is all about ‘us down here versus him up there’, was in ashes just a couple of years ago," said Thomas Hofer, an Austrian political analyst.

"But the Freedom party has very carefully revived that and now they have a huge amount going in their favour.” Social Democrat leader Pamela Rendi-Wagner.

Last month, the Austrian government blocked the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the European Schengen free zone because the ÖVP were afraid of a right-wing resurgence.

Social Democrats said they endorsed the Schengen bid under the assumption that the notion of a migration crisis was a myth.

This is consequently providing more leverage to the FPÖ as the leading party is expected to lose control over the government of Lower Austria, which happens to be the ÖVP's leader political heartland, Karl Nehammer.

Like any other EU country, Austria used to be heavily reliant on cheap Russian gas.

With Austria cutting ties with Russia over the conflict in Ukraine, this only served to fuel the right-wing movement among the masses.

"A lot of the electorate are very, very bad-tempered at the moment,” said Marcus How, head of research at political risk consultancy VE Insight. “The landscape is ripe for populists to take advantage of.”

It is obvious that such a phenomenon to take place in a country where the political landscape has clearly run out of alternatives.

As seen with the case of growing distrust towards migrants, the ideological bankruptcy of neoliberal and "centrist" parties has only resulted in a cultural digression with regards to their own liberal values.