“If we look at the success of the Spanish Vox or the Fratelli d’Italia, we can see that the stigmas attached to sovereigntist parties are in vain: voters choose according to their own perception of reality,” Varga said, announcing the 2024 election bid.

The referendum came as Austria, with its nine million-strong population, saw a tripling of the number of asylum applications filed between 2021 and 2022.

For all its talk of rule of law and democracy, the EU appears determined to ‘fix’ its broken migration system by politically punishing the very countries that have done the most to prevent the problem. Later this week, we’ll find out how European leaders who disagree with this process intend to push back.