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
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