It was a difficult four months and now the population has voted us back in.

Sebastian Kurz

Categorized in : World

We are who we are. People who are older have the advantage of more experience. But you don't have to despair just because you're young. If young age is the problem, you can take comfort in the fact that it gets better with each passing day.

despair get-better people

We in Austria have always had lots of immigration. But when one starts, as happened in Europe last year, to open the borders and to transport people northwards as fast as possible, then of course it's not just Syrians who come. People from all around the world then see their chance to quickly come to Europe.

immigration people world

I am aware of the responsibility I am taking on as the chancellor. Things have developed very quickly for me in recent years, but they didn't happen from one day to the next. I have more than six years of experience in government. I took the decision to run as a candidate very seriously. In May, I decided to change the Austrian People's Party and to start a broad-based movement aimed at changing this country for the better.

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I would like to have a Europe that has a strong foreign and defense policy, ensures economic growth and is active in addressing the issues of the refugee crisis. But perhaps not one that imposes new regulations on allergens that requires food menus to be changed everywhere. When that happens, it creates the feeling that the wrong priorities are being set.

priorities strong feelings

We are not always totally happy about how we are portrayed.

When we look at the situation in the EU, we need to honestly admit that it desperately needs to develop further, that we need to strengthen it when it comes to the bigger questions - and allow member nations to make more decisions about the smaller questions themselves.

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The elections would be free and democratic, and any result would have to be accepted.

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I have gotten the sense that developments when it comes to human rights are very alarming. In the long term, it needs to be in our interest to have a Turkey in which human rights are respected. Anything else would mean destabilization right on our border. If we look away, the developments in Turkey will constantly get worse.

human-rights long mean

If we Europeans are not in a state to be able to solve the refugee crisis ourselves, if we only depend on Plan B with Turkey - then that is not simply an impression, it is the truth. But Europe cannot be susceptible to blackmail or be weak. I am, in any case, not in favor of having a deal with Turkey at any price.

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We have, thank God, a very good relationship with the German government. There were resentments, but they've been resolved. Germany is the strongest player and Angela Merkel is the strongest government leader in the EU.

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I am also integration minister and speak with many refugees. When I ask if they came with the goal of living in Greece or Poland, most of them answer "no."

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We Europeans. We need to show the necessary strength together.

We are neither a regional power nor are the Balkans our sphere of influence. These are self-confident countries. We should be particularly thankful to Macedonia, a country that has taken on a very difficult task without profiting from it. Quite to the contrary: Instead of praise, there was criticism from the international media. The reason for our decision was that we were being massively overstretched - we had to stop the influx. Whether that also had a positive impact in Germany, that judgment must be made there.

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There has at least been a serious effort on the Turkish side to prevent people from setting off for Europe. Recently, only about 100 people have been arriving in Greece per day. Last year, it was several thousand daily at times. This effort can, however, also very quickly dwindle.

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The Turkey deal can only be Plan B. Plan A needs to be a strong Europe that is prepared to defend its external borders on its own. If we do not do that, then we are living in a Europe that is dependent - on other countries, and possibly even on personalities like President Erdogan. And dependency is dangerous.

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If we are able to reach an agreement with the Greens, a certain extra creativity will definitely be necessary, here and there, if we reach a deal, it will involve or will have to involve a different and maybe also new form of governing.

We will enter talks with the Greens.

The opposition always had the goal to get rid of Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. And today, they succeeded, i ask you to recognize this decision, it's a democratic decision and there is no room for anger, sadness or hatred.

These are shameful images and no one should be ashamed for Austria, we need in this sense to rebuild confidence anew. This rebuilding can in this case only happen with a snap election.

For all these successes in the past two years I had to be ready to withstand a lot and also put up with a lot, from the rat poem to the proximity to radical right-wing groups and the 'isolated incidents' that kept coming back, there were many situations in which I found it very difficult to swallow all that.