How the Far Right Weaponized Europe’s Interior Ministries to Block Refugees
VIENNA—Herbert Kickl might be the most important far-right ideologue you’ve never heard of. He’s radically reshaping both refugee policies and the tone of political discourse across Europe.
A longtime strategist for Austria’s nativist Freedom Party (FPÖ), Kickl has gone from working behind the scenes to becoming the country’s interior minister. And with a string of controversial statements and policy proposals—primarily related to immigration and refugees—he is using his newfound prominence to help ensure that those issues remain a part of the conversation domestically.
In that, Kickl is an example of a broader trend in Europe. The FPÖ entered government in the fall of 2017, partnering with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz’s People’s Party. While coalition partners might have traditionally squabbled over who in the foreign ministry could stand on the world stage or who in the finance ministry could control the country’s purse strings, that’s no longer necessarily the case. Populist
