Far-right enters government in Austria

VIENNA (Monitoring Desk): Austria’s centre-right OVP (People’s Party) has reached an agreement with the far-right FPO (Freedom Party) to form a coalition government, after eight weeks of intense negotiations following an election in October.

The OVP’s young leader Sebastian Kurz and FPO leader Heinz-Christian Strache told reporters on Friday night that the two parties agreed on a government program for the next five years.

The 31-year old Kurz, who was set to become Austria’s next Chancellor and the world’s youngest leader, said the new coalition government would focus on addressing the concerns of citizens, and take steps to relieve tax payers, improve security and counter illegal migration.

“We are happy for assuming responsibility for our wonderful, beautiful homeland,” the far-right FPO’s leader Strache said.

The details of the coalition agreement will not be revealed before centrist Austrian President Alexander van der Bellen is briefed on the outcome of the talks, although Kurz has already outlined some points vital to both parties that would shape future government’s agenda. Among them is a further tightening of screws over migration.

“We want to reduce the burden on taxpayers … and above all we want to ensure greater security in our country, including through the fight against illegal immigration,” Kurz said.

A source with knowledge of the negotiations told Reuters that the Freedom Party is seeking at least three key ministerial jobs: Interior, Foreign and Defense.

While the Austrian far-right party under its current chairman has never called for leaving the EU, Kurz reportedly worked to ensure that his coalition partner would never seek an Austrian version of Brexit.

Since 2015, the Alpine country took in some 150,000 asylum seekers, which accounts for over 1 percent of its population, one of the largest shares per capita alongside Sweden.

The signs of the growing popularity of the far-right was evident in December last year, when Freedom Party candidate Norbert Hofer’s bid to become modern Austria’s first far-right president was only narrowly defeated in a neck-and-neck contest with centrist Van der Bellen.

With Austria set to form a right-wing government, institutionalized opposition to “open door” policies on migrants is no longer restricted to the EU’s eastern reaches.

Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, with their right-wing conservative governments, remain staunchly opposed to the EU relocation scheme and refuse to take in a single refugee.