In an interview for the Swiss Neue Zürcher Zeitung, former Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz sharply criticised the European Union’s approach to migration and democracy, warning that the bloc is stuck in outdated legal structures and paralysed by political cowardice.
Speaking about the rise of populist parties, Kurz took aim at efforts in Germany to isolate the right-wing Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party through a so-called firewall policy.
Kurz, who served as chancellor of Austria from 2017 to 2021, said he never believed in excluding parties outright, unlike Germany’s Christian Democrats (CDU), who refuse any cooperation with the AfD.
“My way was never that, and I don’t believe it’s necessarily effective,” Kurz said. He acknowledged that the AfD is “significantly more radical” than Austria’s Freedom Party (FPÖ), but warned that democratic systems must allow for political representation.
Attempts by the SPD [the German Social Democrats] to ban a party that received over 20% of the vote are extremely problematic from a democratic perspective. We usually only see such measures in countries that Europe likes to point fingers at.
Kurz, who entered a coalition with the FPÖ in 2017, insisted that governing moderates even the most combative parties. “Any party in government becomes more pragmatic. Once you’re in government, you’re responsible for the entire country, not just a specific group.”
He pointed to Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni as an example of a politician who was demonized by the media as a “fascist” but has since proven to be “reliable and stable.”
The former chancellor also addressed his reputation as a populist—a label he rejects. “I’ve been a member of the ÖVP [Austrian People’s Party] since I was 16. Just because I opposed Merkel’s Willkommenskultur and open-border policies, I was portrayed as some kind of right-wing extremist.”
He argued that terms like ‘populism’ are often used to delegitimize valid political positions. “If journalists like the election result, it’s democracy. If they don’t, it’s populism,” Kurz quipped.
Being against uncontrolled mass migration is a perfectly normal position. Not being left-wing doesn’t make someone indecent.
On migration, Kurz was particularly scathing about the EU’s inability to defend its external borders.
“Europe still has no functioning external border protection. We’re trapped in outdated legal frameworks,” he said, singling out the European Convention on Human Rights and other legislation that he believes has made it impossible to control who enters Europe. “As long as we leave these decisions to smugglers, we’re finished,” he added.
Kurz also condemned the prevailing political attitude toward the migration crisis:
Politicians like to point out that the number of migrants has fallen by 30 or 50%. It is not uncommon for them to compare the figures with 2015. But if you look at absolute numbers, they are still extremely high despite the decline.
He noted profound demographic changes in Austria, citing figures that just 35% of children in Vienna’s schools are now Christian, while over 40% are Muslim.
He warned that “security in European cities is deteriorating, and imported antisemitism is rising … If we don’t get illegal migration under control, many major cities will soon become unlivable.”
