Austria’s government has announced a new National Action Plan against right-wing extremism. The plan, presented on Tuesday, will involve working groups from the Ministries of the Interior, Justice, and Education, aiming to develop a catalogue of measures targeting prevention, early detection, criminal prosecution, resocialization, and democracy promotion. The Directorate of State Protection and Intelligence (DSN) will oversee the implementation.
The right-wing Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) sharply criticized the initiative. Secretary General Christian Hafenecker said that the measure acts against “freedom of expression, criticism of government and democracy.” He argued that with the plan, the coalition wants to push “government critics into the extremism corner.”
Hafenecker also warned that targeting social and alternative media is “a form of terror of sentiment, as we actually only know it from authoritarian regimes.” He added that the coalition continues to allow “illegal mass immigration.”
The government justifies the focus on the right with arrest figures, while Islamist extremism remains the greatest terrorism threat.
Left-wing extremism is not addressed in the new plan, despite the rising number of attacks committed by left-wing extremists. Last year, a paint attack on the Paulaner Church was claimed via an anonymous video on the extremist platform Indymedia, targeting a pro-life demonstration. During the October 5th opening mass of the March for Life at St. Charles’ Church, worshippers discovered a bag containing fake ticking bombs.
The previous National Action Plan for the Prevention of Extremism and Deradicalization, presented in 2024, mentioned right-wing extremism and Islamism but omitted left-wing extremism entirely.
The plan downplays the dangers posed by violent leftist groups, whose antisemitic actions have been rising in recent years. Data from IKG, the Jewish Community of Vienna (Israelite Kultusgemeinde Wien) shows that out of 726 ideologically motivated incidents against Jews, 202 were attributed to the left, 195 to Muslim actors, and only 147 to the right.
Michael Galibov, IKG Vice President, warned that left-wing and imported antisemitism are increasingly dominant.
