Refugees from me and maher more than half a million have now crossed the border to bangladesh to escape a military crackdown in Rakhine States those are the headlines on aljazeera inside story is coming up next they with us. China is holding what appears to be its most significant communist party congress. With president xi jinping to consolidate his power. With this country and indeed the rest of the world join me adrian brown live coverage and analysis here. Declares victory in austrias National Election which feels to the right so where will the socalled take. What this is right for europe this is inside story. Welcome to the show im sammys a than now the results from austria as National Election are in and it looks like Sebastian Kurtz is poised to become the worlds youngest head of government declared victory after his conservative Peoples Party won more than thirty one percent of the vote it wasnt enough for a simple majority. Form a Coalition Government that marriage is expected to be a union between his party and the second place far right Freedom Party during the campaign kurds adopted a tough stance against refugees and immigration in his victory speech kurtz talked about his mandate. Thank you all. I have a big request for you used today to celebrate you all have ended through hard work and dedication at the same time i need to tell you that tomorrow the work starts we did not just run to win the elections we did so to bring austria back to the top we ran in this election to achieve real change. And as we mentioned earlier kurds will need to form that coalition and those talks could prove difficult for the one the kid the head of the far right Freedom Party accuse kurtz of coopting his message during the campaign. And now well see if they really mean it honestly or seriously if they are even willing to have honest negotiations with us or not and im telling you you can rely on one thing were going to stay true to ourselves your friends we are going to stay true to the austrian people. Lets bring our guests into the show we have in lancaster in the United Kingdom allison fiddler professor of german and austrian studies shes also the author of an upcoming book the art of resisting cultural protest against the austrian far right and on skype from london Matthew Goodwin seen the a visiting fellow at Chatham House is Europe Program good to have you with us lets start with alice and then how did a country which was one of the most welcoming to refugees a couple of years ago there is so much to the right so quickly. Well whether its been quite so quick is of course debatable its true of course austria did welcome in. Large numbers of refugees about the third i think placed in europe in terms of per capita the number of refugees coming through. And you know have been i think very welcoming towards Asylum Seekers i think this isnt something that has just happened however there is a an undercurrent you can look back to im sure well be talking about this more but back to the millennial elections one thousand nine hundred thousand when your Freedom Party came into coalition with the austrian peoples government and back then too there were there was a lot of mileage made of if you like anti immigrant rhetoric well things have changed a bit since then havent they matthew according to the austrian governments two thousand and seventeen integration report which i read up immigration to austria dropped dramatically last year with a fall in asylum applications of war than fifty percent why was there so much focus during the Election Campaign then on immigration. Well i think. The main concern among austrians really following the eruption of the refugee crisis in twenty fifteen and we saw all a very concerted attempt allayed the center right leaders sebastien both actively. Target. Is by talking very tough all matt refugee issue if you just think about some of the policies that its how it advocated. That appeals apparently to more than just the far right voters right looks like hes captured people who may not have previously aligned themselves with the far right well hes how about the center right vote the austrian Peoples Party votes he will also attracted some nonvoters but austria instinctively is quite a conservative country we know the austrians considered the European Unions handling of the refugee crisis to be one of its greatest failures which we discovered in a survey at Chatham House coats for example talks of slashing benefits from my currency move the army on to the southern border to patrol the borders with police he talked about closing islamic schools for children. In his party oversaw. The. Need that anybody can be fined for wearing. Make a face covering. Clothing in public and all of this was part of an attempt to really occupied that radical right space so i think coats came into this election with a very Clear Strategy including its paid off he has come in with a very Clear Strategy in the sense alison has he stolen some of the ground from the peoples from the Freedom Party. Absolutely and of course hes been rebuked for so doing by the leader of the Freedom Party heinz constantia her. Campaign posters call him the four danka you know the man we thought about these things beforehand so dr has has quite openly accused cook cooks of having taken some of his policies on. Of course i suppose you know if we get a coalition between these two parties then to some extent. Cooks will have done staffers work for him but it doesnt look like that and i think that has feeling a bit been a bit aggrieved that you know their their political. If you like their campaigning points have been taken from them and championed by one of the established parties however better the Freedom Party may be about what the Peoples Party leader has been saying and doing math you would agree there is no going back this is a country that has shifted towards the right even if by some miracle they work out a coalition with the social democrats rather than the Freedom Party. Austria unlike many of the european states has moved decisively to the right thats without question there are some outliers macron in france but of course in the first round the story before you send anti e. U. Candidates germany corben in britain perhaps as some better than some expected but the general story in europe as reflected in austria is on the continent that is moving to the right and crucially lets look not lose sight of one Important Development you know really for the first time in years the center left in austria house has appeared to at least agree to discuss with the radical right Freedom Party the possibility of forming an alliance and it will act like its not likely to happen simply crossing that well i to even discuss that possibility with the rapid cowrite i think its an important moment in our School European politics and its something definitely to be looked at in terms of where the continent is going as well as austria allison when we try and look ahead its important to remember of course curts has been in power hes held positions as the foreign minister minister of integration austria does have an Integration Law which for the first time included legal standards for what constitutes integration and a legally binding integration declaration which applicants had to sign and so on what sort of impact has that had on the whole integration and immigration situation in austria. I dont know about these new laws but if you look at citizenship tests in austria theyve been quite clear about you know what they wish from people becoming austrian whether theyre from the middle east or elsewhere but as has been referred to them its sort of coming at a time when with the full facial veil ban its not just the burka clamping down on anybody with you know fancy dress costumes on that mask their face is part of a general if you like package of things that are looking to be more anti. Anti foreigners. Yes well see you know who who ends up being in the coalition as matthew is just pointed out its unlikely that the social democrats will do so and and the unthinkable has happened that they havent ruled it out. Ninety nine two thousand the austrian Peoples Party socalled his party ruled out a coalition with the Freedom Party but it then renee gone that and and did actually form a coalition so. If you break it down alison i mean to hear the breaking down for us what does that mean in terms of the sort of direction or policies we can expect from austria Going Forward allison are we going to see a austria thats more insular closed and less enthusiastic about the you. Know what is the ultimate leamy. Well of course austria takes on the presidency in the second half of two thousand and eighteen so itll get fairly critical then. Last year when we had a protracted attempt to elect an austrian president we saw. A kind of rallying of if you if you like really pro your sentiment in that the the winner of that contest closely fought though it was alexander funded ben campaigned on a platform of looking after austrians reputation and that came really as as a reaction to what was going on in britain with bracks it because austria could see that coming out of the e. U. Wasnt a great idea. Whether thats going to change remains to be seen last year haul for the thats the ally of course of pastors in the Freedom Party his right hand man. He had initially said that he made anti e. U. Noises but then said that the people must decide to that would go to a referendum. Maybe thats what thats the way things will go perhaps they will have a referendum in austria to. Be seen but look at things from the outside in as well matthew how do you think those euro diplomats in brussels are going to be watching viewing whats happened in vienna. I suspect that that plate this is the other evidence of the strength of oculus in austria i think theyll look at the freedom vote with a party attracting more than one in full voters as being the same kind of challenge so the European Union project as marine le pen. This in the netherlands but i think also you view this perhaps is as likely to turn up the volume all not a position to how the e. U. Has managed the refugee crisis i suspect hungary in poland and other states in central and Eastern Europe will probably be celebrating the result because of its position on the refugee issue i think theyll be feeling as though theyve got one will send in that coal and trying to push back against how the e. U. Has managed that crisis trying to toughen up the external all of the n. G. O. S. Patrolling the met coming up with a more conservative response if you like on that issue so i think the e. U. Will be a lot but we wont see how it is an imposition of those diplomatic sanctions that we saw in two thousand when the European Union really i think. Many actually over reacted in its response that the Freedom Party joining the coalition then. Commissioned a role to ensure that human rights to being up here no i dont think well see anything like that this time around which again shows us how far europe is traveled im glad that you mentioned that Matthew Allison the Freedom Party as both of you now mentioned you know they have been in a Coalition Government before the early two thousands. Why is there a feeling this time that the country is really on the verge of this is different. Well firstly to go back to the issue of you know whether there will be International Conservation matties obviously right on this that its unthinkable i think that they. Will now muscle in and start to slap down austria possibly in part because in so many of the Member States there are equivalent successes for the far right so everybodys busy looking at their own getting their own house in order or not so i think its unlikely that. Austria will be deemed to be you know have to be brought back into line whats changed you know obviously weve got the effects of the refugee crisis if its all i dont know what else has changed if you asked and theyve been polls suggesting that you know forty five percent of austrians think that theyre less well off economically and they need somebody to sort this out so the economic agenda lower taxes this is of course another promise of courts you know are also on the menu its not just a immigration backlash. I cant really put a finger on you know what might have changed in society what i feel sure will happen though perhaps to a lesser a lesser extent that it did last time is that there will be domestic protest there has already been impromptu protests yesterday on the streets in vienna already there are petitions circulating to try to stop a coalition between the the black and the blue or between the turquoise and the blue as we must say. Because of change the party colors as well as a few other things or im glad you mentioned the protests lets bring into the show at this point joining us from vienna alexis new birdies host of radio africa t. V. Good to have you with us were talking about perhaps the backlash within austria do you see much of an attempt to Block Coalition forming. We think here in new vienna. Everything is still being open. To depend on the negotiation of the building of the government because you cannot see or of course the russians are complicated there are some difficulties about the coalition the possibilities of when to uproot and block they make a coalition they have their very big. Fire to according to the topics because all of them that are said the group is saying there is. The black one disputed their own topics they thought of their own topics at this minute there megacorp a coalition with them they will not be able to bring them thered topics in the in the program of government so the red one also did decide in the beginning to say they were not populated with people who are setting ahead against. Open union it is here now open it is that big suspense because not with the north what would happen theres a big suspense no one knows what happens matthew mentioned then the push back from the e. U. In the early two thousand sergei and the last government when the Freedom Party played a role we dont expect that do expect any formal pushback from the e. U. Atoll. I think its unlikely to see a big mobilization against austria largely because the e. U. To be blunt has bigger fish to fry its a constant of the us really still trying to encourage that very fragile Economic Growth to come through a bit more fully and also you know to try and get to grips with some of those sentiments that we just heard about but much of Southern Europe in particular is really not feeling much of the economic pick up over the last year and a half and we need to throw in a lingering refugee crisis and perhaps it negotiations the election it simply isnt going to impose itself on the agenda in the same way that the austrian politics did you know years it maybe it also is one of the reasons i think there are also the fact that the Political Landscape in europe has changed compared to the two thousand so i mean the early two thousand. The rise of the fall right in other places has been a notable fact while i was. Saying also you know apart from that swim to the right i would say whats changed has been a collapse of support for the last in two thousand and thirteen fifteen governments in the e. U. Had center left parties in the this year currently only six of the twenty eight governments in the European Union have left way parties in them and most of those are what we would call periphery states like molds or imports ugle so i think when you look at the general direction of europe the center left has been struggling under center right and the populist right in general terms of be doing quite well in austria. Although there are ideological differences alison is one way of looking at whats been happening across europe whether its you know kurds in austria the rise of micron in france the brigs it. Vote could we draw a common sort of anti establishment is a maligned through all of this. Yeah its tempting to do so but i think its a bit ironic really because its only in the case of austria i mean this is still establishment this is a the austrian Peoples Party which is formed grand coalitions on and off its part of the old system its just. This whole thing is being different from the old boys garbage least thats how he seems to have sold himself. Exactly but is the we will find out but you know just changing your party coat color and dumping yourself a movement instead of a party isnt isnt really enough to. To prove that this is something new. You know our march is a new party this isnt in austria its its an old party thats giving itself a make over and you can see this in other countries too of course. Not least in in our own but is he really something new hes a hes a young. Career politician whos been in politics since it was twenty four going thirty one now and hes certainly garnered a lot of support for his youth and vitality and energy and and i think actually t