Newsweek International Magazine 26th October 2018 Back Issue

AUSTRIA RISING
In May 2017, when Sebastian Kurz took control of the center-right Austrian
People’s Party (OVP), he remade it in his image. Lest the world underestimate the significance of this, the thirty two year-old rebranded
the OVP as the Sebastian Kurz List–New People’s Party. Seven months later the conservative populist became Austria’s youngest-ever chancellor, in addition to the world’s first millennial head of state and, according to some analysts, the future of Europe. Like other right-wing populists ascending to power in the European Union, the ambitious Kurz has pushed a hard-line
immigration agenda in response to economic stagnation and the Syrian refugee crisis. But his youthful persona and political happenstance have elevated his status and his ideas far beyond Austria’s borders. His rise coincided with the transition of the EU presidency to Austria, a six-month term, ending in December, that has given him a platform to challenge the liberal order of Europe and its cherished tradition of open borders.