Austrian government postures against immigrants and refugees. Again.

The Austrian government of Chancellor Sebastian "Babyface" Kurz (ÖVP, "türkis"/turquoise) and Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache (FPÖ, blau/blue) have specialized in posturing against immigrants with gratuitous symbolic stances and mean-spirited measures to make life more difficult for immigrants. What they have not done is seek real, substantive, and practical solutions to the larger immigration problem facing Austria and the rest of the EU, which also means no serious measures to prepare for a situation like that faced in 2015 with a large surge in refugee inflows.

KurzStrache took another anti-immigrant mo ve on Tuesday, which is symbolically and therefore diplomatically significant, but has no direct practical effect. They announced Austria's rejection of UN's New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, a broad statement on the rights of migrants with no binding effect. (Gianluca Wallische, Österreichs Ausstieg aus dem Uno-Migrationspakt: Entscheidung mit Anlauf Standard 31.10.2018; Austria says will not sign global migration pact Reuters 10/31/2018)

One can reasonably question whether such non-binding agreements amount to anything more than pious aspirational documents. But substantive agreements have to start somewhere. Austria joins the dubious company of Trump's America and Viktor Orbán's Hungary in rejecting the agreement. (Clark Mindock, US withdraws from United Nations agreement to establish international rights for migrants Independent 12/03/2017)

Reuters also notes that the authoritarian government of "Poland, which has also clashed with Brussels by resisting national quotas for asylum seekers, is considering the same step."

What's also notable about KurzStrache's action is that through the end of 2018, Austria's holds the rotating presidency of the European Council. So this is a deliberate gesture of contempt toward the EU on their part. And a reminder that they are not at all serious about a European solution of the refugee issue.

Here are the terrifying provisions of the agreement that so frighten the bold leaders of the Nationalist International (from UNHCR New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants n.d., accessed 10/31/2018):

In adopting the New York Declaration, Member States:

• expressed profound solidarity with those who are forced to flee;
• reaffirmed their obligations to fully respect the human rights of refugees and migrants;
• agreed that protecting refugees and supporting the countries that shelter them are shared international responsibilities and must be borne more equitably and predictably;
• pledged robust support to those countries affected by large movements of refugees and migrants;
• agreed upon the core elements of a Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework; and
• agreed to work towards the adoption of a global compact on refugees and a global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration.

Austria's Sebastian Kurz, conservative star?

Newsweek International has a current cover story about Austria's baby-faced Chancellor Sebastian Kurz that's such a puff piece that it could have come from one of Kurz' PR flacks: Elizabeth Schumacher, Sebastian Kurz is Remaking Europe's Future From its Darkest Past Newsweek International 10/17/2018.

No, it's not "fake news" or "Lügenpresse". It's just good, old-fashioned sloppy and/or lazy reporting. The fact that the headline doesn't make sense is the least of its problems.

Kurz is the Chancellor of a parliamentary coalition government that's been in office for a year. His party is the Christian Democratic classically conservative party ÖVP. The junior partner is the far-right populist party FPÖ, headed by Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache. If there has been any major differences between the two governing parties the last year, it hasn't been readily apparent.

This article gets one thing right: KurzStrache have emphasized their hostility to immigrants What you can't tell from the article is that their anti-immigration policy is mainly fear-mongering, fantasy solutions, publicity stunts, and gratutious measures to punish refugees for existing.

One example: KurzStrache and their fans like to complain that immigrants aren't learning German quickly enough. So they cut funding for German classes for immigrants. That's how they roll. And if they have made new provisions for handling a high influx of regugees like in 2015, they are keeping that well concealed, too.

The article doesn't even mention two of the most dramatic incidents of the last year. There is a current parlimentary investigation into what known as the BVT affair. The BVT is Austria's internal security agency charged with thwarting terrorist plots and the like. KurzStrache's far-right Interior Minister's department staged a highly irregular raid in which they used a Vienna city police unit controlled by Strache's FPÖ (!!!) and took a large number of documents relating to security investigations. The Washington Post has reported that several other European intelligence agencies have significantly reduced their cooperation with the BVT because they don't trust them to keep sources and methods secret. The likely though unadmitted reason for the raid was to find out which people close to the FPÖ were being investigated and who was provided the BVT the information.

The other was the amazing show KurzStrache staged for Vladimir Putin. Strache's FPÖ entered into a formal, publicly acknowledged cooperation agreement with Putin's United Russia party in 2016. The Foreign Minister invited Putin to her wedding, along with Kurz and Strache, of course. Austria press was not allowed there, but Putin's state channel RT was. RT filmed a dance of the Foreign Minister with Putin, after which she literally bowed down on her knee before him. Kurz is well-known for his obsession with Message Control. No way that Kurz and Strache didn't stage this exactly the way they and their friend Vlad wanted it. Putin dances, speaks German at Austrian FM’s wedding RT 08/18/2018:

This is a surprise to see: "For the first time in 100 years, since the end of the Habsburg Empire — when Austria ruled much of Europe for close to 500 years - the country finds itself in a position of power." Austria's power consists of direct diplomatic influence in the Balkans and traditional business and financial ties in both western and eastern Europe. The reporter seems to be basing that on Kurz' current role of President of the EU's European Council. But that's a rotating six-month role that is more a diplomatic ritual than any real authority. That role can be used to help set the EU's political agenda. But KurzStrache has mainly used it to promote their own anti-immigration PR show. They did produce some empty discussions about fantasy pseudo-solutions like asylum centers in North Africa (ain't gonna happen).

To the extent the KurzStrache economic policies are being felt, they are along Herbert Hooverish lines: lower wages, more job insecurity, weaker unions, cuts in public services to ordinary people, etc.

See also:

• Olivera Stajić, "Newsweek" porträtiert Kurz und sieht Österreich in dunkle Zeiten abgleiten Der Standard 19.10.2018
• Elizabeth Schumacher, Sebastian Kurz is Remaking Europe's Future From its Darkest Past Newsweek International 10/17/2018
• Emily Schulthies, How One 'Political Wunderkind' Is Outmaneuvering the Far Right The Atlantic 10/16/2016
• Clemens Neuhold, Analyse: Warum die Regierung trotz sozialer Einschnitte kaum verliert Profil 17.08.2018
• Anna Goldenberg, Europe’s Agenda Is in the Hands of a 31-Year-Old The Atlantic 07/03/201
• Crisina Mazy, Putin's Newest Ally Supports Russia's Move to Dominate Europe's Energy Market Newsweek 02/28/2018
• Anna Goldenberg, Secretive Fraternities Are Feeding Anti-Semitism in Austria The Atlantic 02/22/2018

Österreichs Kurz will keine NGO See-Rettungen

Österreichs Kanzler Sebatian "Milchgesicht" Kurz machte ein Gespräch mit Stephan Löwenstein und Thomas Gutschker von der FAZ (Sonntag): „Diese Politik beendet das Ertrinken“ 14.10.2018. (Die ganze Interview ist nur mit Abo erreichbar.)

Sie haben ihn bei einem zarten Punkt berüht: "Sie wollen in Ihrer Zeit als EU-Ratspräsident das Problem der illegalen Migration nach Europa angehen. Politisch hat sich seit Juli kaum etwas getan." Das stimmt. Und seine EU-Ratspräsidentschaft ist schon mehr als die Hälfte vorbei.

Der Standard berichtet über die FAZ-Sonntag Interview in Kurz setzt Schlepper und Hilfs-NGOs faktisch gleich 13.10.2018.

Der "Frankfurter Allgemeinen Sonntagszeitung" sagte Kurz: "Es kann doch nicht sein, dass ein paar Nichtregierungsorganisationen das klare Ziel der 28 Staats- und Regierungschefs in Europa konterkarieren. Und das nicht nur mit dem Ziel, Leben zu retten, sondern gemeinsam mit den Schleppern Menschen nach Mitteleuropa zu bringen."

Der ÖVP-Chef nannte das Schiff "Aquarius 2", das von Ärzte ohne Grenzen und SOS Mediterranee betrieben wird. Schiffe wie die "Aquarius" versuchten, der libyschen Küstenwache beim Bergen von Migranten zuvorzukommen. Das schaffe absurde Situationen. "Wenn nicht europäische Schiffe retten, sondern libysche oder ägyptische, stellen sich komplexe Rechtsfragen gar nicht erst", sagte Kurz.

Kanzler Milchgesicht liebt leere Rhetorik. Und Österreich hat natürlich keine Küste. Aber trotzdem sind solche Aussagen nicht ganz harmlos. Kurz gibt dabei verbale Unterstützung zu rechts-populistischer, anti-Immigration Parteien und Politiker wie Ungarns Viktor Orbán (Fidesz), Italiens Innenminister Matteo Salvini (Lega) (der auch de facto Regierungschef ist), und seinem eigenen Vizekanzler Heinz-Christian Strache (FPÖ).