From: Reuters By Francois Murphy
- Austria elects new parliament on Sept. 29
- Far-right Freedom Party has led polls for months
- Alliance with Hungary may undermine EU’s Ukraine policy
- Even if it wins vote, party faces obstacles to office
VIENNA, Aug 5 (Reuters) – The far-right favourites to win Austria’s next election have forged an alliance with Hungarian leader Viktor Orban that could deepen defiance of Brussels and threaten already fragile consensus over the Ukraine war if they take power.
Orban, prime minister of Austria’s old imperial partner and an ally of U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump, has often blocked or delayed major European Union decisions such as sanctions against Russia and aid for Ukraine, wringing concessions from the bloc in the process.
While other hardline nationalists now heading European governments have taken a more moderate path, Austrian Freedom Party (FPO) leader Herbert Kickl has aligned his party closely with Orban, the self-styled champion of “illiberal democracy”.
“We’re entering what I would like to call a new era in European politics,” Kickl said with Orban announcing their European alliance in June in a Vienna hotel alongside Andrej Babis, head of the biggest party in the Czech Republic’s lower house, and a former prime minister of that country.
Voice of Ukraine 