Vocal Voices

Austria has a new Chancellor, the 31 year old Sebastian Kurz of the Austrian People's Party (roughly conservative). He got there by adopting some of the rhetoric of the right wing FPO (freedom party), promising to crack down on illegal immigration, etc. By doing this he rose from third in the polls to win.

So now Kurz has to form a government. Will he go with the right wing FPO or the left wing Social Democrats? The EU wants it to be the Social Democrats, and the EU has form for interfering in Austrian politics.

So will young Mr Kurz follow the wishes of the EU, in which cracking down on immigration a la Hungary isn't admired, and form a coalition with the Social Democrats, or go with the FPO? My money is on the former, but he may decide to walk the walk instead of just talking the talk.

It was noticeable that when Sebastian Kurz pledged to shut the main migrant routes into Europe, cap benefits for refugees and bar foreigners from receiving benefits until they have lived in the country for five years during the campaign the EU kep quiet. Why would that be?

It is because an EU state has the right to do such things and always did have. Down the years even old time mebers have carried out variations on those promises by Kurz. The EU was not in favour, and said so, but there was little under the rules that it could do. The rules were there to be interpreted so that is what happened.

So what about the UK? It seems like forever that everyone and his dog was welcome. All they had to do was get in then jump through a few simple hoops and some benefits were available to them. Jump through a ferw more at a later date and more benefits came through, then it was on to housing lists and so on. When the hoi polloi questioned any of this they were called xenophobes, racisits and the blame for the whole situation was down to the EU.

How different the truth was.