The symbolism that Sebastian Kurz staged last December could not have been clearer. Atop Kahlenberg, a hill outside the Austrian capital of Vienna where in 1683 the Holy Roman Empire successfully defeated predominantly Muslim Ottoman invaders, Kurz signed an agreement with his country’s far-right, anti-immigration party to form a coalition government.
Kurz dismissed any interpretations of ceremony and site, as the youngest leader on the continent formed the only government in Western Europe to include the far right. He since has forged an outsized role in a growing movement against refugees, asylum seekers and other migrants that threatens to split apart the European Union.
MORE: [10 Countries That Take the Most Immigrants]
Kurz’ position takes on new significance this week as his government assumes Austria’s six-month term for the rotating presidency of the European Union. Kurz is pledging to focus on three main topics: balance the organization’s budget, consider its expansion to other European countries and address the ongoing migrant crisis, all of which could influence Europe’s migration policies in the coming years.
“We want to use these six months to build bridges in the European Union and reduce tensions,” Kurz said last week. “We are also focusing on building a Europe that protects, which is the motto of our presidency.”
But whom it protects, and against what, is unclear.
Though Austria contributes only 2.4 percent to the European Union’s gross domestic product, it has successfully influenced the migration policies of its neighbor Germany, the EU’s largest economy by far and known by some as Europe’s reluctant authority due to its post-World War II uneasiness at accepting too much regional influence. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s open-door policy to migrants fleeing unrest in the Middle East and North Africa in recent years prompted a political firestorm at home that most recently threatens to break apart her four-month old coalition government.
On Monday, Merkel agreed to tighten controls at the Austrian border, the BBC reports, in an attempt to prevent those who have applied for asylum elsewhere in the EU from gaining access to Germany. The move would make it more difficult for asylum seekers to stay in Europe or avoid arrest, and comes as Kurz has pledged to protect its southern borders with Italy and Slovenia.
Amid Merkel’s compromise, Kurz called for a fundamental shift in how the European Union views migration, according to Politico, saying in a speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, “We need to focus on the safeguarding of our external borders as the prerequisite for a common border-free Europe.”
Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the European Commission, fired back at Kurz on Tuesday saying the issue is not new, and that as far back as 2008 a proposal for protecting external borders was rejected by “several German speakers,” a dig Politico interpreted as a clear message to Austria.
Austria is one of an increasing number of countries home to growing anti-immigrant, far-right movements, including in Hungary and Poland, and leaders like Marine Le Pen’s Front National political party in France. And it has become the leading voice for other exclusionary policies, including the debate for allowing Turkey to join the European Union.
Kurz’ clashes this week are only the latest examples of Austria distancing itself from the Western, liberal democracies that have led Europe since the end of World War II. Austria has previously formed a reputation as a bridge between organizations like the EU and NATO — the latter of which it is not a member — and former communist countries in the east.
“At this point, I don’t see Austria trying to maintain the international neutral policy that they used to have,” says Yannis Stivachtis, director of the Center for European and Mediterranean Studies at the Athens-based research organization ATINER. “I think it has more negative, reactive policies.”
“That’s a big [source of] pressure, because of the migration, as well.”
In late June Austrian police and its army performed widespread border protection exercises, seen by many as a demonstration of its policy differences with neighboring Germany.
Austria also made international news in the aftermath of a nerve agent attack in Salisbury, England, against a Russian defector and his daughter, which Western powers attribute to Moscow. Vienna was one of few governments that chose not to expel Russian diplomats as retribution.
Vienna’s relationship with Moscow has caused some experts to question whether part of its recalcitrance is due in part to direct or indirect Russian influence. Austria’s actions certainly align with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intentions for its western neighbors.
Putin wants to drive wedges between EU member states, says Vesko Garcevic, a career diplomat who previously served as the Montenegrin ambassador to Vienna and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, among other posts.
“Moscow is well aware: They cannot break up that unity, but what they can do is actually to get them to be more focused on themselves, being absorbed by internal feuds and discussions over the EU future, or some practical issues like how to deal with Russia and migration,” Gacevic says. “The more inward looking the EU is, the less potent a global player it is.”
Russia has close ties with Austrian business interests, including construction firm Strabag, one of the largest on the continent. Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, among Putin’s closest domestic allies, owns a major stake in Strabag and was among those brought under U.S. sanction in April as punishment for Russia’s “malign activities.”
Many regional analysts are concerned about Putin’s influence over Vienna. The Russian leader said in May after visiting the capital that the sanctions “are harmful for everyone, both for those who initiate them and for those against whom they are directed.”
Kurz has so far aligned with the EU on maintaining sanctions, but remains open to negotiating with Putin as well as hosting him, as he did for Putin’s first state visit after winning reelection in March — something many European countries refuse to do.
“In my view, it’s the result of influence: The interest of Austria to show and display its interest and relations with Russia, and to place itself in a better position once sanctions are lifted,” says Garcevic, who now teaches international relations at Boston University’s Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies.
Yet there remains no doubt that the political ground in Europe is changing, fueled by anti-immigrant, nationalist movements there and abroad, including in the U.S., says Stivachtis, who has an extensive research background at Austrian-based institutions and now teaches at Virginia Tech.
“Democracy is not any more the priority. President Donald Trump’s more friendly positions with Russia has allowed Russia to come up with its counter-policy of democracy of a particular kind,” Stivachtis says, “a democracy not where the rights drive order, but order drives rights.”
“Nobody says that political parties in Poland, Austria, Italy, that they are not democratic, but they have a particular type of democracy that’s not the liberal democracy based on human rights as before. It’s a ‘security and order’ priority which will determine which rights, if any, will be available.”
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Austria’s Influential Rise to Fuel Far-Right Movement in Europe originally appeared on usnews.com
