In the EU a country tilts to the right

Austria had national elections this past Sunday. The results stunned the country as the governing coalition lost many votes opening the way for two populist far-right parties which made big gains. But it is not the first time that such a thing happens as less than a decade ago, in the year 2000, a far-right party won power for the first time since the Second World War. As a consequence the country suffered EU sanctions. The results of which seem to have triggered an abiding sense of bad feelings towards Brussels among a large part of the population. Just 28% of the Austrians, in a recent survey, said that they had a positive view of the E.U.
One of the far-right winning parties, that gained more than 18 per cent of the vote, was the Freedom Party led by the 39 year-old Heinz-Christian Strache. He ran a harsh campaign against “foreign criminals” and “asylum cheats” and pledged to take Austria out of the EU. To hear him singing in his campaign the chant, “Austria! First!” backed by an unsettling crowd chant. “Our Homeland! Our people! Our culture! Our language! is a rather disturbing sound.
The second right-wing party, the Alliance for the Future of Austria, headed by the veteran far-right Jörg Haider increased its support from 4 to 11.5 per cent. After the results were known, a triumphant Mr Haider went on Austrian television and said that both right-wing parties should now work together.
It is believed the gains of the right-wing parties are due not to economic problems, as the country does not seem to be suffering from them, but to the immigration, which has long been an emotional issue for Austrians. Located in the heart of Central Europe, Austria has been a favored destination for several generations of migrants, from Hungary in 1956, Czechoslovakia in 1968 and, most recently, the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. This in a rather small country has never been well accepted. Nevertheless, the latest news and elections results are not a thing which is going to be welcome in the EU.