Austria: FPÖ Wins 2024, Kickl Becomes Chancellor & EU's First Far-Right Core Government

Austria's September 2024 parliamentary election produced a result that shook European politics: the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), led by Herbert Kickl, became the first far-right party to win a national election in Austria's post-war history, taking 29.2% of the vote. The ÖVP came second with 26.3%, the Social Democrats (SPÖ) third, and the Greens and liberal NEOS followed. The result reflected years of FPÖ campaigning on anti-immigration, pandemic-era discontent, and strident opposition to EU sanctions against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. Kickl's signature phrase — "Fortress Austria" — captured the nationalist turn of Austrian politics.

Despite the FPÖ victory, President Alexander Van der Bellen initially declined to task Kickl with forming a government — an extraordinary constitutional step that drew comparisons to Belgium's presidential practices and reflected deep unease about the FPÖ leader. Instead, ÖVP leader Karl Nehammer was given first crack at building a coalition without FPÖ, exploring combinations with the SPÖ and other parties. Those talks collapsed in January 2025, and Nehammer resigned as ÖVP leader. With no alternative viable, Van der Bellen was compelled to ask Kickl to form a government — a situation without precedent in the Second Republic. Kickl's FPÖ then negotiated a coalition with ÖVP, inverting the typical post-war dynamic in which the mainstream right led and the far-right was at most a junior partner. The resulting arrangement makes Austria the first EU member state with a far-right Chancellor since the post-war order was established, surpassing even Hungary's Orbán in symbolic significance for Brussels.

The political model Kickl most openly admires is Viktor Orbán's "illiberal democracy" — a system maintaining nominally democratic institutions while reshaped to entrench the ruling party's dominance. Kickl has spoken of an "Austria-first" doctrine, opposed military aid to Ukraine, argued against EU sanctions on Russia, and expressed skepticism toward further EU integration. Austria's heavy dependence on Russian natural gas — among the last EU states to reduce Russian gas imports — adds a material dimension to FPÖ's pro-Russia tilt beyond ideology. Under Kickl, any revision toward NATO alignment is categorically off the table, as neutrality remains deeply embedded in Austrian national identity.