The 31-year-old who looks set to be Austria’s next chancellor
A scandal-mired election could produce a new right-wing coalition in Austria
A MAN lumbers into a tattoo studio and brandishes a photo of Sebastian Kurz, the young leader of the conservative Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP). Then the artist gets to work, eventually showing the man his back in a mirror. Etched onto it is a circle of faces of superannuated ÖVP grandees. The customer is furious: “I wanted Kurz, not the ÖVP!” he yells. “What did you expect?” comes the reply: “Kurz is the ÖVP.”
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “The Wunderwuzzi”
Europe October 14th 2017
- The Spanish government calls the Catalans’ bluff
- The 31-year-old who looks set to be Austria’s next chancellor
- Ties between Turkey and America are near breaking point
- France’s centre-right offers no serious opposition to Emmanuel Macron
- Poland’s president turns on his former boss
- Many eastern Europeans feel nostalgia for the communist era
- The EU will not help the Catalan secessionists’ cause
From the October 14th 2017 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionDiscover more
Ursula von der Leyen has a new doctrine for handling the hard right
The boss of the European Commission embarks on a second term
Marine Le Pen spooks the bond markets
She threatens to bring down the French government, but also faces a possible ban from politics
The maths of Europe’s military black hole
It needs to spend to defend, but voters may balk
Ukraine’s warriors brace for a Kremlin surge in the south
Vladimir Putin’s war machine is pushing harder and crushing Ukrainian morale
Vladimir Putin fires a new missile to amplify his nuclear threats
The attack on Ukraine is part of a new era of missile warfare
A rise in antisemitism puts Europe’s liberal values to the test
The return of Europe’s oldest scourge