Ex-Chancellor Werner Faymann called it a “door with side panels”. Seven years ago, an attempt was made to choose a moderate choice of words for the border fence. The ÖVP no longer has these inhibitions – but the taboo was broken under Sebastian Kurz when he was still foreign minister.
ÖVP Europe Minister Karoline Edtstadler has actually only revived the discussion. On krone.tv she spoke on Wednesday evening about “fence or wall – you can call it what you want” for the protection of the EU’s external borders. Chancellor Karl Nehammer followed yesterday. In Brussels, he argued that “we must finally break through the taboo fences”. According to Nehammer, this requires the “financial resources of the EU”.
“It must be possible for both: order and humanity”
“Building Fortress Europe”, as the then Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner put it, was already a mission impossible at the SPÖ – but it is not in line with the ideology of the Greens. Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler keeps a low profile, similar to the Schengen veto. Club leader Sigi Maurer made the Greens’ position clear: “As far as the external borders of the EU are concerned, both must be possible: order and humanity. The simple call ‘Build walls around Europe’ from landlocked Austria contributes more to the polemic in the debate than to the solution.”
Nehammer also surprised with the advance in Brussels. The Commission always states that there is no money for walls, fences and barbed wire, only for border infrastructure. The Chancellor claims that an EU legal basis has been in place since 2021.
However. The strategy stands in stark contrast to the “father of EU accession” and ex-ÖVP foreign minister Alois Mock, who cut the Iron Curtain on the Hungarian-Austrian border in 1989.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
