“The far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), which is currently conducting coalition negotiations with the conservative Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) as a senior partner, has yet to comment on its position on Austria’s continued support for Ukraine.”, — write: www.ukrinform.ua
The far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), which is currently conducting coalition negotiations with the conservative Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) as a senior partner, has yet to comment on its position regarding Austria’s continued support for Ukraine.
“We ask for your understanding that we do not provide meaningful comments regarding the current coalition negotiations with the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP). In the event of a successful conclusion, a general package of agreements will be presented,” the FPÖ press service commented on the question of whether the war with the Russian Federation is being discussed against Ukraine in the coalition talks and whether a possible future government between the FPÖ and the ÖVP will continue to support Ukraine.
As Ukrinform reported, on September 29, 2024, Austria held elections to the National Council (the lower house of the parliament), in which the far-right Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ), known for its pro-Russian position, won the most votes (28.8%).
As the other parties were unwilling to cooperate with the FPÖ led by its leader Herbert Kickl, three other political forces, the conservative Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP), the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) and the liberal NEOS, began coalition talks among themselves to form a government. However, these negotiations did not succeed, one of the reasons cited being that the economic wing in the ÖVP torpedoed the agreement by advocating a coalition between the ÖVP and the FPÖ.
After the failure of the negotiations, the leader of the ÖVP, Austrian Chancellor Karl Neghammer announced that he was leaving both positions. Immediately after that, the newly appointed chairman of the conservatives, Christian Stocker, announced his readiness for coalition negotiations with the Freedom Party. The FPÖ and ÖVP are currently in intensive talks to form a coalition government, which is expected to be led by Freedom Party leader Herbert Kickl.
The FPÖ has been known for its pro-Russian stance for at least the last ten years. Despite the aggression launched by Russia in 2014, FPÖ deputies advocated the development of Austrian-Russian friendship, traveled to occupied Crimea, and in 2016 concluded a cooperation agreement with the Kremlin’s United Russia.
Even the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine did not stop the Freedom Party from promoting pro-Kremlin narratives and attempts to justify Moscow’s aggressive actions. And although at first the Austrian right-wing radicals officially condemned the invasion of the Russian Federation, later they tried in their statements not to talk about Russia as an aggressor, but instead sought justification for these actions of the Kremlin.
Read also: Austria Shallenberg will remain a reliable and constructive partner in the European Union The position of the party is most clearly evidenced by the situation with the speech of President Zelensky in the National Council of Austria in March 2023. Then the far-right (as well as part of the social democrats) spoke out against the speech of the Ukrainian leader, because the speech in the Austrian parliament by the “representative of the warring party” is an alleged violation of the country’s neutral status. As FPÖ leader Kikl cynically stated, Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine is nothing more than “the war of the United States and NATO against Russia,” and the European Union has turned into a “European branch of NATO” because of its aid to Ukraine.
In their statements, FPÖ representatives claimed that NATO’s behavior provoked Russia to attack Ukraine, and that the European Union, which provided military support to the victim, is a “warmonger.” In view of this, the Austrian Freedom Party opposed the provision of weapons to Ukraine, promoted “immediate peace negotiations”, supporting the Kremlin thesis that Ukraine should stop its path to NATO and become neutral, as well as give up Crimea. One of the key aspects of the FPÖ’s policy in the Russian direction was calls for the lifting of EU sanctions against the Russian Federation.