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Austria’s far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) called on the government on Tuesday (June 11) to appoint an EU “migration” commissioner after winning the Alpine country’s EU elections.
Austria’s Freedom Party has a far-right immigration agenda, calling for the expulsion of people of non-European ethnic backgrounds who they believe have failed to integrate into society.
While it is up to the Conservative government to nominate any commissioner, the Liberals say their first national win gives them the power to nominate someone for the post and decide their duties.
In the EU elections, the Austrian Freedom Party received 25.4% of the vote, slightly ahead of the ruling conservative People’s Party (ÖVP) on 24.5%.
“What I have noticed over the past weeks of campaigning is the need for a sensible immigration policy and the need for redistribution of immigration,” Freedom Party Secretary General Christian Hafenecker said at a news conference.
“We need a migration commissioner,” he added, nominating an Austrian Freedom Party official for the post.
This is not the first time the Austrian Freedom Party has proposed this idea.
In 2023, party leader Herbert Kickl said those who “refuse to integrate” should lose their citizenship and be deported.
The concept of re-immigration is associated with white nationalists who espouse the Great Replacement conspiracy theory.
The theory claims there is a conspiracy to replace Europe’s so-called native white population with non-white immigrants.
The UN human rights chief warned in March that the conspiracy theories being spread were “delusional” and racist and directly led to violence.
The Liberals are expected to take the lead in September’s national election but may need to find a coalition partner willing to govern.
The party, founded by former Nazis in the 1950s, has been part of governing coalitions on several occasions but has never ruled the country of 9 million people.
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