‘This is the normalisation of racism’: apprehension at prospect of election success for Austria’s far right

Herbert Kickl, the leader of Austria’s Freedom party, which has called for an EU ‘remigration’ commissioner to return people to their countries of origin. Photograph: Leonhard Föger/Reuters

After winning the EU elections in June, Austria’s far-right Freedom party (FPÖ) seized the moment, calling for the appointment of a EU “remigration” commissioner to be tasked with the forced return of migrants and citizens with a migration background to their countries of origin.

The muted reaction that followed was a sharp contrast to Germany, where months earlier, allegations that members of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) had attended a meeting at which they discussed remigration dominated headlines and prompted tens of thousands to take to the streets in protest.