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Austria swears in new chancellor as far-right looms

Austria will appoint its new Chancellor Christian Kern on Tuesday, with the ailing centrist government pinning its hopes on the ex-railway boss to help stem the surge of the far-right.

Published: 17 May 2016 12:56 CEST
Austria swears in new chancellor as far-right looms
ÖBB Sabine Hauswirth

The 50-year-old, renowned for his glowing business achievements and snappy dress sense, is due to be sworn in by President Heinz Fischer at 1500 GMT. 

Kern replaces fellow Social Democrat Werner Faymann of the SPÖ party who threw in the towel on May 9 after a string of poor election results.

The new leader faces the major challenge of uniting a fractious SPÖ and smoothing over tensions with its coalition partner, the conservative People's Party (ÖVP).

He also has to convince Austrians unhappy about the arrival of migrants and rising unemployment to vote for his party at the next scheduled elections in 2018.

“The task before Kern is Herculean,” political analyst Thomas Hofer told AFP in a recent interview.

Headaches await

Kern's appointment comes days before a presidential runoff vote, pitching Norbert Hofer of the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) against the Green-backed candidate Alexander van der Bellen on May 22.

In the first round last month, Hofer comfortably beat his rival by 35 percent to 21 percent.

Meanwhile the SPÖ and ÖVP were knocked out of the race with just 11 percent. The dismal performance means that for the first time since 1945, the president will not come from one of the two main parties.

This heralds the risk of the new head of state taking advantage of some of the president's never-before-used powers, such as firing the government.

Mirroring trends elsewhere in Europe, Austria's main parties have been losing voters for years while the FPÖ now consistently scores more than 30 percent in opinion polls.

This means the SPÖ and ÖVP could fall short of being able in 2018 to re-form their “grand coalition”. In the last election three years ago, they only just scratched together a majority.

Kern's biggest headache will be to decide whether to ditch the SPÖ's 30-year-old taboo on cooperating with the FPÖ, dating back to when the late, controversial Joerg Haider became leader of the right-wing party.

He also needs to revitalise the SPÖ's deadlocked coalition with the ÖVP and agree structural reforms to get Austria's economy, faltering of late, moving again.

'Glaring deficits'

Kern, dubbed a “pinstripes socialist” by German broadcaster ARD, grew up in a working class district of Vienna as the son of an electrician and a secretary.

He joined the SPÖ when he was young, climbing up the ranks before moving to an energy firm in 1997 and to national railways company ÖBB in 2010. There, the father-of-four is widely credited with a turnaround and successfully managing the transport of immense numbers of migrants transiting through Austria in 2015.

“I've had to wipe a few tears away and comfort employees with the thought that it's not the end of the world that the boss is becoming chancellor,” Roman Hebenstreit of the ÖBB works council said when news of Kern's appointment broke last Friday.

But whether Kern can heal the SPÖ remains to be seen. His positions on key policy areas are vague, although he is thought to lean more to the right on economic issues.

FPÖ leader Heinz-Christian Strache said that Kern's performance at the railways company during the migrant crisis “showed that he actively supported Faymann's people-smuggling policy”.

“If Kern really wants to end the paralysis and the glaring deficits that this country is suffering from, then he should clear the way for new elections,” Strache said last week.

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MIGRANT CRISIS

How a change in the profile of asylum seekers is impacting Austria

The number of asylum applications has dropped in Austria, but changes in the profile of those arriving are creating new demands and new policies.

Published: 22 April 2024 16:05 CEST
How a change in the profile of asylum seekers is impacting Austria

Asylum policy is a controversial topic in Austria, especially in an election year. The far-right has been pushing its anti-immigration agenda to gather support ahead of federal elections later this year.

While the sheer number of refugees can shape an election, differences in who those refugees are and where they come from also create challenges and demands for government action.

The profile of those seeking asylum in Austria has changed compared to recent years.

In the first quarter of 2024, almost a third of asylum applications came from children between the ages of zero and seven, as Austrian media has reported.

Around 53 percent of applicants are minors, and the proportion of women seeking asylum has also risen significantly. However, the overall number of asylum applications during the period fell by 32 percent compared to the same period the year before. 

Whereas 2023 most asylum applications in Austria were from males (only around 24 percent of applications were submitted by women), the country is now experiencing the “family reunification” phenomenon. In other words the wifes and children are following to seek protection.

Asylum applicants are still mostly from Syria and Afghanistan – two nationalities with a high chance of obtaining protection in Austria. Only 30 percent of applications from Syrians were rejected, whereas for Afghans 39 percent were refused.

READ ALSO: Border centres and ‘safe’ states: The EU’s major asylum changes explained

What does the change in profile mean for Austria?

One immediate consequence of the influx of children has already been seen in Vienna, the destination of most refugees: the school system is overwhelmed with the new arrivals, as several Austrian newspapers have reported in the last few weeks.

“This is putting such a strain on the system that high-quality teaching is hardly possible any more,” Thomas Krebs, a union representative, told Kurier. According to the report, around 300 children will arrive in Vienna every month, resulting in a need for 140 classes by the end of the school year. 

The Austrian capital was already overwhelmed by a shortage of teachers and an overflow of schoolchildren—particularly since the war in Ukraine, when 4,000 children were integrated into Vienna’s schools from February 2022.

The kids coming from Syria also need more support than merely German classes: “The Syrian children who come to us from refugee camps are a particular challenge for the system. Many are traumatised and often not even literate in their own language,” Krebs said.

He added that children need to spend more time in kindergarten—to learn “the basics, not just the language.” The education expert also believes it’s necessary to invest more in extracurricular activities, where young people can learn German, acquire behavioural skills that are important for school, and learn how to spend their free time meaningfully.

READ ALSO: What’s the reason behind the drop in Austrian asylum seeker claims?

What is Vienna doing?

Vienna’s Department of Education points out that new teachers are being recruited. In the current academic year, 2,400 teachers have been hired, Kurier reported.

Director of Education Heinrich Himmer said: “We support pupils and face the challenges together so that learning and living together work well. I would like to thank everyone who works so hard in Vienna’s schools. However, the responsibility for integration is an all-Austrian one, where solutions exist at the federal level.”

How does family reunification work?

There is a special process for granting family reunification rights for family members of refugees in Austria. 

According to information from the Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum, if a foreigner has been granted asylum status in Austria, family members can apply for an entry permit at an Austrian representation authority abroad within three months of this status being granted.

If this is granted, they can travel to Austria to apply for asylum in the family procedure and receive the same protection status as the reference person. If the application is only submitted after three months, they must also provide proof of adequate accommodation, health insurance, and income.

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