LETTER FROM VIENNA

Walter Rosenkranz, when he was elected president of the Austrian Parliament in October 2024, presented himself as a level-headed lawyer and former defender of rights to reassure those concerned that a far-right figure was taking one of the most prestigious positions in this Central European country, marked by a heavy Nazi past, for the first time since 1945. "For me, democracy is paramount," he promised during his first speech.

In six months as president of the National Council [the name of the lower house of the Austrian Parliament], this senior figure of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), age 62, has committed so many blunders and provocations that he has become quite embarrassing for the rest of the political landscape. Many MPs from other parties had agreed to support his election in accordance with the practice that the party that comes first in the legislative elections takes this position.

The FPÖ did achieve a historic 29% of the vote in the September 2024 legislative elections. However, its leader, Herbert Kickl, failed to form a coalition, and it is now a conservative, Christian Stocker, who is the chancellor after forming a coalition with the left and the liberals. Despite being a member of a student corporation with an anti-Semitic past, Rosenkranz was able to secure the second position in the state protocol order, where he has extensive means at his disposal.

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