Warns against "invaders"

Human rights convention not up to date for Hofer

Norbert Hofer

(Bild: APA/Robert Jäger)

The Third President of the National Council, Norbert Hofer, believes that the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is no longer up to date: it was created when communism still existed. Today we are dealing with "Afghan or Syrian invaders", explained the FPÖ politician. 

"There are opportunities on every continent where you can find safety," he said in the interview, justifying the rigid course of his party leader Herbert Kickl in terms of refugee policy.

Hofer refers to "very wealthy Muslim states"
"It's quite simple. Anyone who is in the country illegally has no place here," said Hofer on his party's migration policy. "Anyone who commits crimes here as a recognized refugee has no place here either. And that is the line we draw." The Third President of the National Council does not understand "that we have to accept asylum applications from people who were already safe here anyway". Furthermore, there are "very wealthy Muslim states close to these refugee routes".

"Afghan or Syrian invaders" make a "difference"
In this respect, the Refugee and Human Rights Convention "is simply no longer up to date", emphasized Hofer. Kickl had already said this during his time as Interior Minister, and later also ÖVP party leader August Wöginger. According to Hofer, one must not forget "that all of this was shaped and applied at a time when communism and the Eastern Bloc existed and dissidents fled to us". Back then, however, they were not "Afghan or Syrian invaders". "And that is the big difference."

The Third National President explained terms such as "People's Chancellor" or "Fortress Austria", which the FPÖ likes to use in the election campaign.

(Bild: Roland Schlager)

Hofer: Voters have their say on "People's Chancellor"
Accordingly, Hofer also defends the term "Fortress Austria" used in the election campaign and: "The special thing about a fortress is that you can lower a drawbridge. And that you decide for yourself who crosses this drawbridge." The "people's chancellor" that Kickl wants to be is also supposed to be of a harmless nature. "The essential message is that the voters have their say first. In all areas of democracy. And then politics must also follow this will."

Hofer drew up the FPÖ's current party program together with Andreas Mölzer. He believes that the resulting Freedom Party policy manual could do with an "update" - if only because of recent social developments such as the coronavirus pandemic. Although personally vaccinated, Hofer sees the introduction of compulsory vaccination as a major mistake by the government: "It's an original sin. And they can't get rid of it."

Hofer: FPÖ would be "left of center" in other countries
Hofer rejects the frequent accusation that the FPÖ is right-wing extremist. Extremism is always outside the constitutional arc. In addition, boundaries are constantly shifting, if you look at the current lines of the parties in the deportation debate. With its party platform, the FPÖ would be considered a left-of-center party in the USA. In the USA, the SPÖ would be "a very, very left-wing party - but it would also accept the constitution and therefore it would not be left-wing extremist".

Norbert Hofer with FPÖ party leader Herbert Kickl

(Bild: APA/Roland Schlager)

FPÖ also has "overlaps" with SPÖ
Despite a shift to the left by the SPÖ under its chairman Andreas Babler and the Red Party's commitment never to make Kickl chancellor, Hofer does not rule out coalition negotiations. "In my view, after an election it must always be possible to hold talks with every party that has been elected by voters. That is also our responsibility as politicians." There are also "areas of overlap with the SPÖ where we can meet".

As with the possible coalition talks, Hofer is also as non-committal as usual about his own future after the election. "I'm certainly not someone who is going to pull out my elbows and say, I really want to be this or that or the other. I'm not going to do that. Instead, I will discuss these things with my colleagues in the committees and above all with the federal party chairman after the election."

In his private life, Hofer is not only an entrepreneur in the food supplement sector ("I haven't taken a single cent out of this small company yet."). He is also studying risk and crisis management at Pinkerfeld University of Applied Sciences. "I actually wanted to do a Master's thesis on the topic of safety culture in private aviation," he reports. However, a module on "Rhetoric for managers" led him to look into NLP (neuro-linguistic programming).