Controversial mayor expelled from FPÖ

In an online edition of the paper, Kampl was quoted as saying: "I distance myself only from what they have done, not from National Socialism."

FPÖ chairman, Heinz-Christian Strache, immediately moved to distance the party from Kampl's statements.

"Someone who flirts with National Socialism has no place in the FPÖ," announced Strache in a press release.

Carinthian FPÖ state party chairman Christian Ragger asked Strache to exclude Kampl from the party, because his statement posed an "imminent danger".

"Such statements are intolerable," said Ragger.

Kampl had previously caused offense in 2005 by referring to Wehrmacht deserters as "partly murderers of their comrades".