New coalition government shifts Austria to the right

Austria hasbecome the onlywestern European country with a far-right party in governmentafter the anti-immigration Freedom Party and Sebastian Kurz'sconservatives struck a coalition deal.

Kurz, 31, and Freedom Party (FPO) leaderHeinz-Christian Strache, 48, announced their deal on Friday night,handing the far right a share of power for the third time in theAlpine republic, after more than a decade in opposition.

At a joint news conference Saturday withKurzto speak about thecoalition deal, Strache said his party agreed to rule out a referendum on Austria leaving the European Union. The two men said they will also push for more relaxed relationship between the West andRussia.

• Austrian vote gives mandate to far right to enter coalition talks
• Austria to erect 'technical barriers' to keep out refugees

They presented details of a law-and order-agenda thatincludes:

• Introducing minimum sentences for violent and sexcrimes.
• Making fighting political Islam a priority.
• Securing Austria's borders nationally to stop illegal immigration until the EU has secured external frontiers.
• Puttingaround 2,100 more police officers on the streets.

Also under the deal, the FPO will take control of much of Austria's securityapparatus as the deal puts it in charge of the foreign, interiorand defence ministries, a spokespersonfor Kurz's People's Party(OVP) said. The OVP will control the finance ministry as well as the justice and agriculture portfolios.

"If everything goes as we imagine it will, nothing stands inthe way of the future government being sworn it at the start ofthe coming week," President Alexander Van der Bellen, whosepowers include appointing and dismissing governments, said aftermeeting Kurz and Strache on Saturday morning.

Van der Bellen beat a far-right candidate in last year'sclose-fought presidential election with a pro-European platform.

8 ministries for OVP, 6 for FPO

His defeated opponent, Norbert Hofer, will becomeinfrastructure minister in the next government, the OVPspokespersonsaid. Kurz will head the government as chancellor andthe OVP will have eight ministries including his office. The FPOwill have six, including Strache's office as vice chancellor.

Kurz has repeatedly said his government will be pro-Europeandespite his pursuit of a tie-up with the Eurosceptic FPO. Hisoffice will take over some European departments from the foreign ministry to give him greater control over EU matters, a personclose to the talks and a senior OVP official said.

Austria's parliamentary election two months ago wasdominated by Europe's migration crisis, in which the affluentcountry took in a large number of asylum seekers.

Kurz's party won with a hard line on immigration that oftenoverlapped with the FPO's, pledging to cut benefits for refugeesand never to allow a repeat of 2015's wave of arrivals. The FPOcame third in the election with 26 per cent of the vote.

Warning of parallel societies

While there has been no specific mention of repelling thatMuslim influx, the symbolism is clear for two parties thathave warned Muslim "parallel societies" are emerging in Austria.

Of Austria's 8.7 million people, more than half a millionare Muslim, mostly Turkish or of Turkish origin. There are fewobvious signs of sectarian tension and the country has beenspared major Islamist militant attacks like those that havestruck Paris, Brussels and Berlin.

Strache and Kurz oppose Turkish membership of the EU, aposition that polls regularly show most Austrians agree with.

The coalition deal ends more than a decade in opposition forthe FPO, a party whose founders includedformer Nazis and once led by thelate Jorg Haider, who praised Hitler's employment policies andbrought the party mainstream electoral success.

More recently, anti-establishment parties have been winningover more voters in Europe, capitalizing on dissatisfaction withmainstream politicians' handling of the economy, security andimmigration.

While other far-right parties have gained ground this year,entering parliament in Germany and making France's presidentialrun-off, the FPO is going further by entering government andsecuring key ministries.

Unlike France's National Front, the FPO has backed away fromcalling for a referendum on leaving the EU, but Kurzhas still secured a guarantee that there will be no Brexit-stylereferendum in Austria, a person familiar with the talks said.

Both parties want to make it possible to call referendums bypetition.

Focus on securing EU borders

Both the OVP and FPO believe the EU should focus on fewertasks, like securing its external borders, and hand more powerback to member states.

When the FPO last entered government in 2000 other EUcountries imposed sanctions on Vienna in protest. There isunlikely to be a similar outcry this time, given the rise ofanti-establishment parties across the continent.

"We want to reduce the burden on taxpayers and above allwe want to ensure greater security in our country, includingthrough the fight against illegal immigration," Kurz saidFriday.