The little messages that Austria sends to Europe
Scope and effects of the vote in Austria. Guiglia's notebook
This is not a surprise, because the same radical wind has been blowing across Europe for some time now. But it is the first time in Austria's political history that 29% of voters – according to indications after the vote – chose the far-right FPö . The national populists have overtaken – another unprecedented thing – the traditional People's Party, with figures of around 26%, which is represented by the outgoing chancellor, Karl Nehammer. Third are the Social Democrats with 20 and then the Liberals and Greens with 8 each.
The numbers would make it possible to create a grand coalition without the ultra-right, as the leaders of the other parties are already envisaging, so as not to have to deal with Herbert Kickl. He is the controversial winner and former Minister of the Interior, but above all the political heir of the late Jörg Haider, who was governor of Carinthia and architect, between the 1980s and 1990s, of the strong turn to the right of the conservative electorate.
Another hypothesis circulating: popular and national-populist together, but without the cumbersome presence of Kickl.
Regardless of what Austrian politics comes up with to create a new government, and regardless of the inevitable controversies that will arise if, in the name of stability and respect for liberal and European principles, they are ultimately the losers, rather than the winners, to deal the cards, yet another push of radicalism poses serious problems for the entire EU and for Italy, which is the neighbor next door.
That Brenner gate that Vienna barred against the freedom of movement of trucks and the Italian economy, forcing our government to appeal to the EU Court of Justice against night, sectoral and winter transit bans (a choice endorsed by the European Commission, also the Germany agrees with the Italian thesis).
Whatever government emerges from the Viennese hat, it is unlikely that in Europe it will be able to change Austria's very inflexible attitude even on public finances, even in times of necessary growth. In the wake of the vote, we can also predict that there will be a tightening of immigration (even now the Austrians have no qualms about rejecting or bringing non-EU people to this side of the Brenner Pass), and that we will see less fervor in support of Ukraine and its defense.
In fact, the Austrian vote is another wake-up call for a Europeanism that too often overlooks the vital problems of its citizens. Nor does it bother to provide answers to the communities' authentic fears. Not just "perceived" fears, as politicians tend to say, especially among progressives, who don't want to see and don't want to hear.
Work, security and immigration are, however, concrete and lived issues that governments can no longer leave to the hucksters on duty, to the ever-ready demagogues, to those who ride the concerns of a society increasingly frightened about what it happens at home and outside.
Published in L'Arena di Verona, Il Giornale di Vicenza, Bresciaoggi and Gazzetta di Mantova
www.federicoguiglia.com
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/austria-messaggi-europa/ on Sat, 05 Oct 2024 05:03:10 +0000.