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After the Austrian elections produced a swing to the right, with a coalition likely between ÖVP and FPÖ, Luxembourg foreign affairs minister Jean Asselborn is worried about Austria's pro-EU line.Pictured: Sebastian Kurz, expected to be the next Austrian chancellor, addressed supporters on 15 October 2017.Photo credit: Sebastian Kurz on Twitter 

The centre-right ÖVP won the election with 31% (+7.4%), the right wing FPÖ came second with 27.4% (+6.9%) and the social democratic SPÖ managed to stay stable around 26,7%. The Greens (-9.1%) might not pass the 4% mark to enter parliament.

Over 750,000 people voted by post, and these have not yet been counted. Hence the final results may still vary up to 0.7%. It is expected that these results will be out by Thursday.

After the previous coalition government between SPÖ and ÖVP broke down earlier this year, this new election result is widely expected to produce a coalition between ÖVP and FPÖ.

Reaction from Luxembourg

Luxembourg’s foreign affairs minister, Jean Asselborn, said in an interview with public radio 100,7 on Monday:

“I hope that the pro-EU line, which was very strong in Austrian history, with all the values that the EU represents and defends, will not be abandoned. That is not only my wish, but that of others as well.”

He added:

“The shift to the right is evident, but we need to take care that the new immigration policy of the Austrian government will not be based on the Australian or the Hungarian model. EU foreign policy is more than national domestic policy. We need to be able to have a unanimous position in important issues such as Turkey. We will discuss all these things with the new government. The upcoming election in the Czech Republic will bring clarity on issues such as solidarity and the defence on European values. I define these European values as those set in the Copenhagen Criteria of 1993, and think they should not be touched.”

On a more personal note, Asselborn said of the possible new chancellor Sebastian Kurz:

“I have known him for four years. On a personal level, there is no problem, but he does not espouse my political views.”