Most European leaders expressed relief about the confirmation on Sunday 4 December that ecologist Alexander Van der Bellen has won the presidential election in Austria.
‘At a time when we are faced with many difficult challenges, the continued constructive contribution of Austria to finding common European solutions and keeping our European unity will remain essential,’ said the president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, in a press release. More combative, the outgoing president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, tweeted that the victory of the Austrian ecologist ‘is a heavy defeat of nationalism and anti-European, backward-looking populism.’
Upon arrival at Eurogroup on Monday 5 December, Economic and Financial Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said that the Austrian election showed that in Europeans’ minds, there is a reticence about populism and a rejection of the anti-European ideas of the far right and this situation can reassure us about the future of the continent.
Winning more than 53% of the vote, Van der Bellen beat the far right candidate, Norbert Hofer (FPÖ), in the third round of voting after the second round, won by Van der Bellen, was challenged by the FPÖ (see EUROPE 15556). The ecologist replaces social democrat Heinz Fiscker for the next six years.
‘Over 40 percent of voters choosing the nationalist candidate in Austria must still act as yet another wake-up call. It looks like Europe's leaders are choosing to press the snooze button yet again and lambast those people choosing nationalists, rather than addressing some of their concerns from the political centre-ground,’ commented Syed Kamall, head of the eurosceptic ECR group at the European Parliament. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)