The "Anti-Trump" - Austria's new president sworn in

[itsdominik 16,845]

Today Alexander Van der Bellen has been sworn in and is now officially president of Austria. The media is already calling him the "Anti-Trump", since he fights for the LGBT community and for women's rights and fights against racism and populism.

 

http://www.thelocal.at/20170126/austrian-president-sworn-in-as-government-wobbles

 

Quote

 

Austria's new president, who beat an anti-immigration candidate in a polarising and nail-biting election last year, issued a rallying call on Thursday for the EU and a warning against populism as he was sworn in.

"For me the biggest danger is that we let ourselves be seduced by simple answers, that we fall into nationalism and small-country parochialism. In particular for Austria, which is a very small country," Alexander Van der Bellen said in his inauguration speech.

"Let us not be seduced, let us not be distracted from the work of a united Europe. Maintaining this peace project is worth all our efforts," the 73-year-old, backed by the Greens but who ran as an independent, told parliament in Vienna.

He was finally elected to the largely ceremonial post of presidency in December, defying the hopes of Norbert Hofer of the Freedom Party (FPÖ) to become the European Union's first far-right head of state.

His victory followed a divisive and bad-tempered campaign lasting around a year that saw candidates from the two centrist parties that have dominated national politics since 1945 unceremoniously ejected in a first round in April.

Hofer, 45, like other "anti-system" politicians in Europe -- and Donald Trump in the United States -- stoked concerns about immigration and security in the wake of Europe's migrant crisis and a string of Islamist terror attacks in the continent.

Hofer has threatened to fire the government and vowed to "get rid of the dusty establishment", seek closer ties with Russia and fight against the "centralising power" of the EU. He said Islam "has no place in Austria" and opposed gay marriage.

Van der Bellen won a runoff by just 30,000 votes against Hofer, an aircraft engineer turned politician, in May. But the FPÖ, formerly headed by the late Jörg Haider, got the result annulled due to procedural irregularities.

A re-run set pencilled in for October had embarrassingly to be postponed because of faulty glue on postal votes. Van der Bellen was finally elected, and by a margin 10 times larger than in May, on December 4th.

Early elections?

The victory of Van der Bellen, a former economics professor and ex-leader of the Greens, was greeted with relief by centrist politicians around Europe, many of whom are themselves facing a strong challenge from populist parties.

But Austria's "grand coalition" of Chancellor Christian Kern, comprising his centre-left Social Democrats (SPÖ) and the centre-right People's Party (ÖVP), remains under severe pressure from the FPÖ.

Speculation reached fever pitch earlier this week that the coalition, which is due to govern until late 2018, may throw in the towel and call early elections because of its inability to agree on reforms.

"This government is only concerned with itself and is neglecting our country," FPÖ chief Heinz-Christian Strache said on Wednesday as he called for Kern to throw in the towel.

[Gypsygaga1 3,623]

So proud of my country today

[PartySick 172,535]

1 minute ago, Gypsygaga1 said:

So proud of my country today

Looking at this at the surface, I'm so jealous of your country

[Gypsygaga1 3,623]

1 minute ago, PartySick said:

Looking at this at the surface, I'm so jealous of your country

Even though we have a good president now, alot of people are still racist. Especially the farmers around here in Upperaustria

[Rebel Heart 5,142]

7 minutes ago, austriamonster said:

"For me the biggest danger is that we let ourselves be seduced by simple answers, that we fall into nationalism and small-country parochialism. In particular for Austria, which is a very small country," Alexander Van der Bellen said in his inauguration speech.

1

This x10000000000. This is exactly the problem with right-wing politics. Simple answers that lead to bigger problems.

[CakeLikeLG 6,275]

Austria, here I come

 

 

[August Blue 8,566]

Rest of the world take notes  

[Sergey Lazarev 255]

[darkchylde 14,857]

*googling tickets to austria*

[13VictorC 1,105]

Good things still happen in this world! 

[i medici 1,746]

Finally it took ages

 

[Morphine Prince 109,656]

Well at least someone is doing things right  

[Delusional Aura 5,129]

Come through Austria. 

[DiscoHeaven23 35,007]

Gay icon Marie Antoinette was born there, seems right

[Whispering 18,865]

Moving to Austria!