The view from Vienna: How Sebastian Kurz is holding the line

While reminders of the age of Metternich and Maria Theresa still abound in the form of statues and palaces, it has been a little over a century since Vienna lost its status as an imperial capital. No longer a great power, Austria today is a tiny, landlocked nation of eight million, hardly the kind of place one would look to for international leadership. But it is in the direction of Vienna that many in Europe now are turning as another refugee crisis mounts in the Mediterranean. 

As Turkey sends multitudes of migrants, potentially numbering in the millions, toward the Greek border, Austria’s Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has once again made the case for a steady response based on maintaining security and order along Europe’s frontiers.

In a statement, Kurz drew parallels to the crisis of four and half years ago and stood firm on the need to secure Austrian and European borders, stating that “a situation like 2015 must absolutely not be repeated. Our aim must be to protect the E.U.’s external borders properly, to stop illegal migrants there and not to wave them through.” 

Though not yet directly affected by the latest refugee influx, Austria under Kurz can be expected to play a central role in influencing partners and crafting a common European response. So, just who is the man at the helm in Vienna, what kind of politics does he represent, and how might he be expected to help resolve the crisis?

Sebastian Kurz first made headlines as the youth leader for the conservative People’s Party (ÖVP) in the 2010 Vienna state elections, campaigning under the tongue-in-cheek slogan “Schwarz macht Geil” or “Black Makes You Horny” – black being the official party colour. The attention-grabbing gambit was a success. The party’s political elders took notice of the energetic upstart and promoted him to Minister of Integration in 2011. 

In charge of an important and sensitive portfolio in a country whose postwar history is pockmarked by bouts of populist-fueled xenophobia, Kurz sought to forge an inclusive vision of citizenship and belonging fit for a modern European country. His signature policies included increasing funding for German-language courses and civic education emphasizing the importance of religious freedom and democratic values. 

In 2013, he was made Foreign Minister, the country’s youngest ever at just 27 years of age. It was as Foreign Minister in 2016 that Kurz made his mark on the European stage by taking the lead in closing the Balkan Route through which migrants made their way into central Europe. This was a daring effort that the E.U. initially refused to sanction but later, when results proved to be conducive to constraining migrant flows, Brussels was forced to recognize it.

When Austria’s ruling coalition collapsed that same year, Kurz seized his chance and took over as leader of the People’s Party, moving him one step closer to the top spot. One year later in 2017, elections delivered victory for the revitalized ÖVP and Sebastian Kurz once again made headlines by becoming the youngest elected head of government in the world at age 31. 

However, completing the path to power would come at a cost to Kurz’s reputation. Austria’s system of proportional representation almost always requires a coalition government between different parties. Since the public had long tired of the “grand coalitions” between the centre-right ÖVP and centre-left social democrats, only one option remained – to partner with the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ), which had been founded in the 1950s by ex-Nazis. Though born of electoral math and necessity, the move nonetheless tarred Kurz as far-right lite. 

The partnership between Kurz's conservatives and the Freedom Party of Heinz-Christian Strache made sense on one level as both parties were opposed to uncontrolled mass migration. But there remained important philosophical differences. Kurz is a strong believer in Europe and of Austria’s place within it, whereas Strache led a party with a deeply Eurosceptic base, a distinction that is particularly important at a time of rising populist anti-E.U. sentiment. 

While Austria has yet to fully reckon with its Nazi past, Kurz made efforts in his first term to address the exculpatory “official narrative” of World War II, namely that the country was a victim rather than a perpetrator of Hitler’s atrocities. Strache’s FPÖ meanwhile remains ensconced in the ideological milieu of the radical right and is unlikely to ever acknowledge Austria’s wartime complicity or to abandon its penchant for racially charged rhetoric.

In any event, the coalition was short-lived. The emergence in 2019 of candid camera footage of Strache appearing to accept bribes from a woman claiming to be the daughter of a Russian oligarch caused the Vice Chancellor to resign, triggering a vote of no confidence in the government and new elections. Kurz was quick to distance himself from his former partner, signalling in a press conference that he had lost patience with his governing partners in the FPÖ.

New elections were held in September, returning Sebastian Kurz and the ÖVP to power. But this time, Kurz opted to strike an accord with the Green Party. During negotiations, he secured the support of his new partners for a firm line on migration in exchange for agreement on climate policy. With backing from the Greens, Kurz returned to the chancellorship in January 2020. The latest refugee influx is proving to be the first test of his second mandate.

Already, Kurz has indicated that migrants will not be allowed past the Austrian border and that an outright closure of the border remains an option. Kurz has also emphasized the need for cooperation with E.U. partners in addressing the crisis, echoing the collaborative approach to closing the Balkan Route that he negotiated as Foreign Minister in 2016: “We are in constant contact with our partners in the E.U. and along the western Balkan route. Should the protection of the E.U.’s external borders not succeed, then Austria will protect its borders.”

Kurz’s strongest statements were reserved for the man he deems responsible for the chaos at the Greek border, Reccep Tayyip Erdogan. He has been unequivocal in denouncing the Turkish strongman and directly assigning blame to Ankara, saying “Those people are used by Erdogan as a playball, as a weapon, to apply pressure on the European Union.” He has also drawn attention to the deliberate nature of Turkish actions, pointing out the concentration of migrants along the Greek border but not the Bulgarian one as a sign that the Turks are stage-managing things. 

Judging by these positions, Kurz can be expected to lead through this crisis in much the same way as he has before, that is with a firm line against uncontrolled border crossings and a disposition toward working closely with European partners toward common security objectives. 

Throughout his political career, he has balanced these positions with a proactive policy of social and civic integration for migrants within Austria, while acting as a much-needed bridge between the hardline governments of Eastern and Central Europe and the more-migrant friendly liberal states of Western Europe. 

Kurz has also been contrasted favourably with his German counterpart Angela Merkel who has been criticized for opening the borders in 2015 without much of a plan for handling the inflow or integrating the newcomers. Indeed, as Merkel approaches retirement and as the heady optimism of her circa-2015 Willkommenskultur (welcoming policy) fades into history, it would seem as if Sebastian Kurz has a shot of taking her place as the brightest star in the European firmament. 

“Imperial” is still too strong a word to describe Vienna’s newfound clout, but it is not unreasonable to conceive of Kurz as the herald of a new golden age of Austrian leadership, one to rival the heights of the Hapsburgs. Metternich and Maria Theresa would be proud.