Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. Wikipedia
Austria: ÖVP and Greens agree on government alliance
Austria has a new government more than three months after the National Council election. ÖVP boss Sebastian Kurz spoke after the pact with the Greens on Thursday of an "excellent result" after "talks that were not easy".
Published: January 4, 2020, 6:32 am
Kurz announced that the coalition will be “protecting the climate as well as the borders”. The central election promises of the ÖVP such as tax cuts or the fight against illegal immigration would continue.
Among other things, according to a report by the Austrian daily Kronen-Zeitung, the coalition agreement provides for a headscarf ban for girls under the age of 14 and a preventive detention for potentially dangerous asylum seekers.
Green leader Werner Kogler briefly said in the joint statement: “Tax relief and a greening of the tax system is possible.” In the future government, the ÖVP will have ten ministers in addition to the Federal Chancellor, and the Greens four.
The Lower Austrian ÖVP member of the Landtag, Klaudia Tanner, is set to become the first defense minister in the country’s history. Kurz informed Federal President Alexander van der Bellen of the results of the negotiations before the government’s 326-page programme was presented.
On Saturday the federal congress of the Greens in Salzburg must give the green light for the compromise. Last summer, the coalition of ÖVP and FPÖ broke up after the Ibiza affair with the then FPÖ party leader Heinz-Christian Strache.
After losses in the election on September 29, the FPÖ had announced that it would not be available for a new coalition.
German Green Party leader Robert Habeck praised his Austrian party friends for bringing the ÖVP “back to the democratic center”. In Austria, the Greens have led the conservative ÖVP “out of the corner with right-wing populists,” Habeck told the Passauer Neue Presse.
“The Austrian Greens deserve great respect for taking on the responsibility to bring the ÖVP back to the democratic center and to give Austria a new design option.”
On Thursday, the ÖVP and the Greens said the aim was to continue the Austrian tradition of “putting aside the divide in order to find new ways”.
In terms of content, the contract states that immigration can only function “according to our requirements and according to clear rules of the game”. That is why “a consistent course in the area of migration and integration” is sought. This also means that immigrants who do not abide by the Austrian legal system can face consequences. This includes, among other things, preventive detention decided for potentially dangerous asylum seekers.
In addition, there must be “a clear separation of asylum and labor migration”. The coalition rejects a European distribution mechanism for asylum seekers. In the event of a new refugee crisis, the coalition agreement provides that, in the event of a dissent by ÖVP boss Sebastian Kurz and Greens boss Werner Kogler, the responsible ministry of the interior, which is responsible for the ÖVP, may single-handedly introduce a legislative initiative into the National Council and also pass resolutions there with other majorities.
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3 comments
It is likely that the rank and file of the Austrian Greens will approve the decision by their party’s senior leadership to enter into coalition with Kurz’ OVP to form a new government. But the vote could be close. Still, many Greens want the power at the national level to implement their party programs, and this is the only way they can be allowed to do so. While Kurz will give them the leeway to enact their “environmental” agenda, things might be different if they get out of the box in other areas of government. One likely trouble spot will be a conflict between law enforcement and the courts, with the Interior Ministry being held by Kurz’ OVP and the Justice Ministry by the Greens. The Austrian public might not like it if those arrested by the police are released by the courts. Kurz will probably not look with favor on an increase in unsuccessful prosecutions. This, and other differences that are likely to surface between the OVP and the Greens, may give him the pretext to dump them in favor of going back to the FPO as a government partner. All this could be as much as a year or two in the future, however.
Update, 4 January 2020 The deal is done, and the Greens party membership approves, and the party is now Kurz’ partner, at least as long as, or until, major differences in world view and agenda do not create unbridgeable gaps between the parties in the government. It could go very well and quite smoothly for a while, but inevitably the issue of reconciling what the Justice Ministry (Greens) does in the way of prosecutions for those charged by the Interior Ministry (OVP) will arise. It may require quite a bit of deconfliction to fix, and on some issues the differences that emerge between the OVP and Greens may not be bridgeable. We’ll have to see what happens. Meanwhile, the Austrians have the example of the present government of Italy as an example of why coalitions for purely political reasons are not always a good idea. They probably won’t be surprised if this doesn’t last very long. And perhaps Kurz may have even planned it this way.
So, the presidency is twice stolen by blatant massive electoral fraud in 2016 from Hofer, then Strache is set up and brought down by a conspiracy by the same suspects, then the entire FP team is ejected from the government, and the beneficiaries in all instances: the far-left, EUSSR-loving, Islam-aiding (recall 1529 and 1683 let alone 2015-16) Greens.
Kurz and his party, what phonies.
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