Hidden camera footage showed a meeting of Austria’s national-oriented Freedom Party (FPÖ), whose members called Afghan refugees “knife-wielding sex offenders” and accused the EU of “repression of speech,” according to Euractiv.
The FPÖ is eager to dispel concerns over its alleged extremism, as its leader Herbert Kickl has a strong chance of becoming the next chancellor. Moreover, the party is holding coalition talks with the People’s Party (ÖVP) following the resignation of Karl Nehammer earlier this month.
However, a video obtained by the Austrian newspaper Der Standard from French journalists at France Televisions casts a shadow over the image of the FPÖ. A group of journalists infiltrated a local party meeting in the Vienna district of Simmering, videotaping members of parliament from the FPÖ, Harald Stefan and Markus Tschank.
According to the video, Stefan stated that “the EU has become something insane – we should really leave, but it’s not an option – the surveillance, the repression of freedom of speech…” He also suggests that Austria should pay the Taliban for returning migrants and asylum seekers.
I don’t feel like giving [the Taliban] a single cent – but I think it’s worth it. Every one of these knife-wielding sex offenders that leaves our country is worth a lot of money. I’d be happy to pay taxes for that.
Tschank also spoke out in detail about his plan for dealing with migrants:
We have to go into a sort of cultural struggle – if that doesn’t work, load them on a military plane and bye. You’ll be gone so fast, you won’t see it happen. We have always said – it has to be as unpleasant as possible for these people – then they’ll stop coming.
However, the FPÖ’s harsh rhetoric only highlights the escalating issue of migration in the European Union. Residents of the bloc’s member states are increasingly dissatisfied with the actions of migrants and refugees, with crime statistics among immigrants soaring.
The well-timed video risks undermining ongoing negotiations between the FPÖ and ÖVP to form a government. The two parties previously governed together in 2000 and 2017, but after the last government collapsed in the so-called Ibiza affair, the Nehammer-led ÖVP ruled out further co-operation with the FPÖ.
