Describing the current government in Austria as center-right is a bit ridiculous (to say nothing of putting words like centrist or left anywhere near descriptions of that government). Austrian politics have been moving further and further to the right and the FPÖ (junior coalition partner) is a xenophobic far-right party with authoritarian streaks. I’m really not comfortable in describing a government where such a party participates as center-right.
Censoring the internet is a popular topic among all center parties in Europe. For example "Hate-speech" censorship, where the end justifies the means, is popular among many left leaning parties.
Isn't the proposal from an ÖVP minister? Does the ÖVP not qualify as center-right?
The OeVP current platform is to curb rights of immigrants, to reduce social support systems, lowers corporate tax rates, introduces laws to restrict social housing to non immigrants, reduces child support payments for children in other EU countries, continues the policy on border controls in Schengen, restricts skilled immigration, sets a maximum limit of 1.5 euro per hour income for asylum seekers when doing social service. What did this party do that’s center?
The policies that OeVP introduces and advocates are more restrictive and conservative than the FPOe did under Haider.
Almost all your points are about immigration. Yes, they have certainly moved to the right on immigration. Even the centre-left social democrates have moved right in this regard. But that still doesn't make the conservatives a right-wing party.
Compared to the past they have also moved left on other topics: e.g. by not touching pensions.
"restricts skilled immigration": Funny, since they have also been criticized for allowing more immigration. Ironically from left-leaning people.
"reduce social support systems": Well, they mostly retargeted social support. All polls showed that a large majority of the people supported these changes. People thought the old system enforced the wrong incentives.
Also let's not forget that they reduced taxes on salaries specifically for working-class families substantially.
"lowers corporate tax rates": IIRC they have only lowered one tax slightly for a single sector (tourism) so far. Hardly anything dramatic.
Still, all these points are not too surprising for conservatives in general. If this is enough for you to call them right-wing, that's certainly fine for me.
Just to add: I've talked to people that directly called the Austrian conservatives an extreme right party ;) I know you didn't go as far, but they were also pretty serious about that. Maybe we can agree that at least "extrem right" is ridiculous. I personally don't get where this overly-dramatic phrasing comes from. Are some people so upset that for once the chancellor is not a social-democrat?
> "restricts skilled immigration": Funny, since they have also been criticized for allowing more immigration. Ironically from left-leaning people.
Who criticised them for that? The only thing they did was introduce low skilled immigration (eg: fruit pickers, cooks and other people in the tourism industry).
> "reduce social support systems": Well, they mostly retargeted social support. All polls showed that a large majority of the people supported these changes. People thought the old system enforced the wrong incentives.
"retarget" just means to reduce support for foreigners and low income families with many children (which correlates to families of Turkish background). Yes, many people think the system enforces the wrong incentives but none of the proposals to improve the incentives where even considered. For instance Nostandshilfe is not being touched because it's predominantly Austrians that are hanging in it.
> Also let's not forget that they reduced taxes on salaries specifically for working-class families substantially.
Even after the tax cuts Austrians pay more in taxes and social contributions today than they did before. The reason for this is that DG/DZ and social contributions increase automatically every year.
None of your examples demostrate how this party would be in the center. They are significantly more to the right than the population is.
> Are some people so upset that for once the chancellor is not a social-democrat?
No, many people are upset because they worry about the future of the country. I for instance worry a lot because the policies set in place in the last few months are dangerous. We already have a very unstable system in the past with very little transparency into what the government is doing (eg: no freedom of information) but how they are from a central position controlling some of the entities that were at least somewhat impartial (like the central bank, the statistic agency etc.).
I don't care who controls the country, I want that the government is transparent and does not get too much power. They are putting more and more powers in place, they are enacting unconstitutional laws and are overwhealming the courts which are busy shutting these things down but it takes time. They are also completely eroding the public discourse with their framing.
Any hope that Austria would have a path towards social liberties and a more business friendly environment were completely scattered since the last election. It's a coalition that blames everything on foreigners and puts laws in place for large donors of the parties.
> None of your examples demostrate how this party would be in the center.
I was merely arguing that party is center-right. I think I brought some examples, but obviously I am biased as well. Makes me curious how you categorize other parties in Europe if the Austrian conservatives are already right-wings to you (think Orban, FPO, Le Pen, Golden Dawn, NPD,...)
> I for instance worry a lot because the policies set in place in the last few months are dangerous.
This is where I really disagree, so many of these accusations are so blown out of proportion to me.
Best example to me was when some party leader of the opposition was literally speaking of "fascism", such that even the president (former leader of the green party) called that exaggerated. The opposition was arguing this way since before the government was even appointed, this is not just about the policies in the "last few months". Certainly a legitimate tactic of the opposition, but nothing I fear at all.
> Makes me curious how you categorize other parties in Europe if the Austrian conservatives are already right-wings to you (think Orban, FPO, Le Pen, Golden Dawn, NPD,...)
Right wing to right wing extremism. In particular NPD is very far to the right. Some of these parties are not just about being on the right but also outright racist without hiding it.
> This is where I really disagree, so many of these accusations are so blown out of proportion to me.
You’re likely not directly affected by their policies. I am. I’m married to a foreigner and employ non EU foreigners and I got to experience the changes directly.
As an example to the new policies that silently became a thing is that my wife as a non EU foreigner is no longer allowed to carry a pepper spray. We now need to proof every year that our children are going to the doctor or Kindergarten and that my wife’s permit did not lapse to continue receiving tax credits and Familienbeihilfe. It’s a joke as the kids are Austrian citizens and entitled regardless of her status.
Destroying the welfare state was done by the SPD in Germany.
Citizen tracking sounds more like what the "communist" party of China would do.
Some decades ago Franz Josef Strauss was considered "right wing". It seems to me that the items you list would have been considered center-right in the 1990s.
But do the ÖVP actually do that? I'm Spanish and I voted for a "conservative" government this last election, where they promised to do, well, stuff I expected from a conservative party, and they didn't do shit. That's why I call them "centrist". They say they are conservatives, but they don't conserve anything.
I only enumerated things they put into law out they proposed or supported from the start.
The things the FPOe did was getting rid of the smoking ban, raising the speed limits to 140, renaming the immigration centers to “departure centers”, proposals to cut the funding of the public broadcaster.
Together they converted the country in record time into a dystopian place. Even putting childhood education back into former times by reintroducing marks for primary schoolers and minimum requirements that can cause children under 10 to have to repeat a class.
They are now both also starting to talk about rolling back abortion rights.
> Well, the conservatives and the right are not going to implement left politics. Austria was certainly NOT converted into a "dystopian place".
A country with that much power given to the government with so little oversight, no transparency is a problem. Austria is a country of immigration and the rules in place for immigrants are awful (from both access to citizenship and rights). What is currently being done has the chance to erode the social fabric more than any other government did before.
> Like it or not: Some time ago, a left-leaning newspaper (Standard) wrote that the current government has the best polls recorded so far.
Obviously I don't like it, and it worries me a lot. I'm not sure any if this is the country I want my children to grow up in.
Yeah, when I voted for the conservatives here I thought they would roll back abortion rights but they didn't, I thought they would fix the immigration madness but they didn't, and that's why I and many other people are voting far right next election: the conservative party has simply failed to be conservative, they just became centrists to attract more votes, and I sure hope it will backfire.
And that's why these laws are popping up all over Europe: they want to maintain control, they are scared of new parties.
What specifically would you like them to conserve? I find conservatism confusing because the specific base state that apparently needs to be conserved differs from person to person. Do you want to go back to feudalism? Do you want to go back to the bronze age? Or do you just want to go back to when the literacy rate was below 50%? Conservatism needs to be specific in its goals otherwise it only represents a desire for a purely unchanging society.
Not surprised by the political shift, I have lived there for few years and felt really discriminated. Few people actually stopped talking to me after they learn where I'm from(Turkey). It's bit out of context but I will heavily advise against moving there for non-European immigrants, don't make the same mistake that I did.
I feel for you. The Turkish community has a real hard time in Austria, much more so than Germany.
I'm ashamed to say that many people from my childhood, today consider themselves liberals but in their rethoric are nothing more than the descendants of Nazis. The first thing I did when being old enough was to GTFO of Austria, and I haven't been back other than on vacation. I have a couple of Turkish friends in Germany who feel quite comfortable and at home there. From those I met in Austria they were by far not as cheerful. There is a lot of talk about "integration" which is basically a way to say: don't speak your language, don't eat your food, and don't visit your mosques because it offends us.
Every attempt of me making friends among Turks in Austria has always been met with suspicion since they aren't used to it. Extremely sad and disgusting.
I guess the problem is that people view Austria as some kind of liberal "Western" country, while geographically it is part of Eastern Europe and ideologically they are closer to those cheering for Victor Orban in Hungary.
If you want to deeply offend (most) Austrians call them Eastern Europeans. They think they're better.
correct the FPÖ is in fact the continuation of the Nazi government and was founded by former Nazis (VDU)[1].
The FPÖ used to be mostly a problem of in Carinthia, where the party was infamous for it's beerfests crawling with skinheads.
You might love the place as a tourist, but if you're an immigrant (even born there) and especially Turkish/Muslim (or simply have a different accent), then living in Austria is no fun.
I think the wrong words were chosen by the parent. For many decades politics in Europe were dominated by traditional globalist governments, which I would describe as "centrist". For many people those governments are failing and voters are moving to the left and the right, depending on the country of course.
Centrist governments are trying to use "hate speech" laws as a way of curbing their loss of control of the media; before they could control the newspapers and the telly and therefore they could control dialogue, now with social networks that's not that easy. We are seeing that with some stories, such as rapes in Sweden and all of that. They could simply tell their friends in TV networks not to talk about it. Problem solved. That doesn't work anymore. So they need the law.
In Germany and Austria for example you need to put your real name and address in a visible part of your website known as the Impressum. What's a better way to make sure you keep your opinions under control and your head low?
those governments are failing and voters are moving to the left and the right, depending on the country of course.
I think it's pretty universal across Europe that people are moving more to the extremes. But that doesn't make the original parties suddenly "centrist" -- they're just status-quo, "old school".
Centrist governments are trying to use "hate speech" laws as a way of curbing their loss of control of the media
I'm sorry, but this just sounds like populist propaganda. There hasn't been government control of the media like you suggest; instead, the media used to be civil. The current "popular" channels do away with civility, and any voice critical of that tone is immediately discarded by playing the victim, like you are doing here.
The establishment, still representing the civil masses, is perfectly within scope to try and curb uncivility. Whether their methods are effective is up for debate, but the goal isn't -- we all know what happened last time Europe went uncivil (80 million premature deaths).
As others have pointed out, the austrian government is populist right/far-right. This is not a law by centrist parties, but by right-wing authoritarian.
