Austrian party founded by ex-Nazis enters coalition government
Israel weighs options as far-right Freedom Party strikes power-sharing deal

A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Thank you for signing up to TheWeek. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
Austria is sending Europe swinging to the right as the country’s Nazi-founded Freedom Party (FPO) and conservative People’s Party (OVP) form a coalition government.
The power-sharing deal - rubber-stamped on Saturday - gives the far-right party control of the key interior, defence and foreign ministries.
OVP leader Sebastian Kurz, 31, is being sworn in as chancellor today in Vienna, with FPO chief Heinz-Christian Strache as his deputy.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The coalition puts a “capstone on a year in which currents of jingoism and xenophobia swept across the Western world”, Salon reports.
Israel is considering how to deal with an Austrian government that includes five ministers and a vice chancellor with far-right affiliations, The Jerusalem Post reports. Meanwhile, Turkey has accused Austria’s new leaders of discrimination and racism over their pledge not to agree to Ankara entering the EU.
Protests are due to take place today in Vienna, although they are not expected to reach the levels of those held in 2000, when the two parties first teamed up, Bloomberg reports. The resulting coalition government back then ruled until 2005.
The FPO was founded in 1956 by former Nazi officers, and was led from 1986 to 2000 by Jorg Haider, “who was notorious for praising Adolf Hitler’s ‘proper employment policies’”, reports The Times. Strache was once detained by police at a torch-lit neo-Nazi demonstration, later describing his attendance as “stupid and naive”, says the newspaper.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
-
Biden's first rodeo
cartoons
By The Week Staff Published
-
Biden's stumble
Cartoons
By The Week Staff Published
-
The daily gossip: Travis Kelce chats about Taylor Swift's Chiefs game visit, Hollywood writers thrilled with details of new contract as strike ends, and more
The daily gossip: September 27, 2023
By Brendan Morrow Published
-
Rebuilding Ukraine: What would it take?
In Depth Russia continues to raze large sections of Ukraine, but that gives Kyiv a unique opening to build a better country — if somebody is willing to pay
By Peter Weber Published
-
Is it time the world re-evaluated the rules on migration?
Today's Big Question Home Secretary Suella Braverman questions whether 1951 UN Refugee Convention is 'fit for our modern age'
By The Week Staff Published
-
A Ukraine election in 2024: how it would work
The Explainer Zelenskyy hints that country is ready for March polls but logistical, security and democratic obstacles remain
By Harriet Marsden Published
-
How Ukraine's claimed kill of Russia's top Black Sea Fleet admiral could affect the war
Speed Read Ukraine says it killed Russian Adm. Viktor Sokolov and 33 other senior commanders in an audacious and expertly timed strike in Crimea
By Peter Weber Published
-
Azerbaijan attacks disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, breaking cease-fire
The 'local anti-terrorist' strikes in the ethnic Armenian enclave threaten to reignite a war with implications for Russia, Turkey and the West
By Peter Weber Published
-
Canada's Trudeau accuses India of role in assassination of Canadian Sikh leader
Canada expelled a senior Indian diplomat after going public with explosive 'credible allegations' that Indian agents helped kill a Canadian citizen
By Peter Weber Published
-
US-Iran prisoner swap: has Biden given in to blackmail?
Republicans condemn $6bn deal but it could help de-escalate rising tensions
By The Week Staff Published
-
Russia and Ukraine face off in The Hague over genocide case
Kyiv is hoping court will rule Russia's actions illegal but Moscow wants the case dismissed
By Rebekah Evans Published