Disaster Management

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Austrian politicians running for parliament before elections on Sept. 29 paused their campaigns recently after flooding that afflicted much of central Europe killed three people in the country.

The civility concealed shrewd politicking, however, say analysts. After declaring that disaster recovery needed to supersede electioneering, Chancellor Karl Nehammer of the center-right Austrian People’s Party, for example, made a point of posting images of himself in emergency rooms as he directed efforts to counter the flood damage.

“Of course the election campaign continues, only now it’s focused on this issue, and he’s trying to turn that to his advantage,” political analyst Thomas Hofer told Reuters.

These moves underscore how Nehammer is under intense pressure as the far-right Freedom Party is slated to win the most seats in the election. According to the European Conservative, the Freedom Party is expected to win 29 percent of the vote compared with the Austrian People’s Party’s expected showing of 23 percent while the other party in the governing coalition, the Greens, is forecast to win only 8 percent.

The Freedom Party might be able to partner with other groups to form a government – it has done so before. Still, its success demonstrates yet again how Europe is tilting right in the wake of anemic economic growth, waves of migration from the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia, and other pressures.

The Freedom Party has taken advantage of the Austrian public’s dissatisfaction with their government, the Robert Schuman Foundation explained, with a dose of patriotism, anti-immigration and anti-Muslim stances. The party hopes to cut spending on migrant services while cutting taxes on Austrians and adopting a more neutral stance on the war between Russia and Ukraine. Austria, which is not a NATO member, is technically neutral, but has joined in the regime of Western sanctions against Russia.

Founded in the 1950s, the party’s first two leaders, Anton Reinthaller and Friedrich Peter, served as Nazi Schutzstaffel, or SS, officers during World War Two, wrote Inkstick. Today, Freedom Party leader Herbert Kickl has vowed to turn Austria into a “fortress” that will protect citizens from migrants and other dangers, added the Irish Times. He’s also decried “forced multiculturalism, globalization and mass immigration.”

Economic woes potentially have made these ideas more attractive to Austrians who say the newcomers aren’t helping them solve their personal problems. Austria’s economy grew by 0.2 percent in the first quarter of the year, then shrunk by 0.4 percent in the second, noted Dutch multinational bank ING. Meanwhile, high inflation is finally easing, it added.

Still, despite the commitment from the main parties to strengthen the economy, whoever wins the election won’t be able to do much to turn the situation around, ING added. “The challenges the Austrian economy is currently facing are so multifaceted that a few measures alone will not be enough to bring the country back onto a higher growth path.”