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Opinion
May 31, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 18
Ibizagate: Intentional and unintentional consequences of the government crisis in Austria for (Eastern) Europe
Gunter Deuber of Raiffeisen Research in Vienna
The coalition between Austria’s conservative- liberal ÖVP and the right-wing populist FPÖ has been viewed very critically in Austria and abroad since it was formed in December 2017. It has also been an issue for the Eastern European bloc as Austria tried to position itself as a "bridge builder" between West and East.
At the beginning of the ÖVP-FPÖ coalition
there were widespread concerns that Austria would move closer to Eastern European and the Visegrad states.
This rapprochement was based above all shared and restrictive views on refugee policy. After all, the young and dynamic Austrian Chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, still Foreign Minister at that time, had established Austria as closer to the Balkan route and had a common position with the Visegrad countries on halting the inflow of refugees.
However, Austria's rapprochement with the Visegrad states did not go much further. It was already unlikely at the beginning of the ÖVP-FPÖ coalition that the young Chancellor, who was quite ambitious internationally, would feel comfortable with a role as a "newcomer" in the Visegrad
Club, which is not well liked in Western European countries and dominated by "old men" such as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Polish party leader Jaroslaw Katcyinski.
Can Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz survive the Ibizagate scandal?
Moreover, as a net contributor to the EU, Austria is also tied to the other net contributors on many policy matters. Vienna has been comfortable
with cuts made in the EU funds going to Central and Eastern Europe. That imposed a limit on the political rapprochement with Central and Eastern Europe.
Austria has always had a historically special relationship with Russia. Those ties were on display following the Novichok chemical nerve agent attack in the UK on ex-spy Sergei Skripal in March 2018, as Vienna was the only western European power that did not expel Russian diplomats.
Austria's EU presidency in the second half of 2018, did not include any Russia-friendly initiatives, although Austria has considerable economic ties with Russia. In addition, the coalition partner FPÖ in particular has made a name for itself in recent years with Russia-friendly actions or statements – even calling for the west to accept Russia’s annexation of the Crimea.
However, the Chancellor, who in a clever move after the election drew the European political agendas under his aegis into the Chancellery, ensured that Russia-friendly positions did not become part of realpolitik in Austria. He, too, has recognised that there is nothing to be gained from Russia-friendly positions at the moment.