The Putinisation of central Europe

HOW CONCERNED should Europe be at the rise of Herbert Kickl, the leader of Austria’s hard-right Freedom Party, the FPö? Following the collapse of attempts by the country’s centrist politicians to keep him out of power after his party came top, though with only 29% of the vote, at an election last September, Mr Kickl now seems set to become chancellor. The FPö has been in government before, as a junior partner. This time, it looks as though Mr Kickl will get the top job. That is bad news for the country: he has called for a “Fortress Austria” free from asylum-seekers and employs rhetoric with Nazi overtones. And it consolidates a worrying pattern of Russia-sympathisers gaining power across central Europe.