About the FPÖ Party Manifesto
The FPÖ’s manifesto is thus a mix of praising the measures taken over the last two years and promises to go further.
The populist right-wing FPÖ, now led by former infrastructure minister and presidential candidate Norbert Hofer, finds itself in a predicament: Its top members, through misdeeds, blew up a coalition that it wants to repeat after the next elections. Ongoing and new corruption allegations and charges involving FPÖ politicians complicate its election campaign further. To all this, the FPÖ reacts in a familiar manner – it’s doubling down on its core messages: Law and order, security, immigration.
Or, as written on its new billboards starring former interior minister Herbert Kickl: “Safety for Austria. [Let’s] Continue the coalition for our home [country].”
The FPÖ’s manifesto is thus a mix of praising the measures taken over the last two years and promises to go further. Benefit cuts for asylum seekers and migrants are to be extended, the fight against political Islam takes center stage, as do measures like demanding German skills before starting school and prohibiting the headscarf in schools. The FPÖ also praises itself of having implemented social measures like the €1,500 tax bonus for children and a €1,200 minimum pension from 2020 onwards.
The Freedom Party’s proposed measures for the future go in the same direction but stay rather vague. Lower taxes and lower debts stand alongside more money for the army, nursing care at home, a billion for public transport and more direct democracy. The FPÖ also wants to let motorists drive 140 km/h on all Austrian’s highways and “decarbonize transportation.” A ban of animal transports across Europe and structural reforms in Austria’s tight systems of commercial chambers are also long held wishes of the party.
