Austria's first far-right president in parliament

The Austrian parliament elected a leading figure on Thursday for the first time far right, the Jewish community outraged by the appointment of a man who “honors Nazi criminals”.

Walter Rosenkranz, 62, received 100 votes out of 162 cast, announced outgoing Chancellor Wolfgang Sobotka after the vote in Vienna.

This choice follows the historic victory of the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) in the legislative elections at the end of September.

Mr. Rosenkranz was elected by secret ballot with a narrow majority, mainly thanks to the votes of his political family and the conservatives of the ÖVP.

In a country where the extreme right is no longer taboo, outgoing Chancellor Karl Nehammer justified this vote by “custom” and “tradition”, which requires that the post goes to the party that wins the elections.

But other deputies said they wanted to “follow their conscience”, citing their “unwavering anti-fascism” to vote against a “Europhobe” who came from a party “increasingly close to the identitarians”.

– 'Burschenschaft' –

This is one of the highest functions in the Republic. If the head of state leaves his post, the president of the Parliament replaces him with his two vice-presidents, within a collegiate body. He also chairs the National Fund for Victims of Nazism.

Freedom Party (FPOe) MP Walter Rosenkranz speaks after his election as the new President of Parliament, on October 24, 2024 in Vienna, Austria © AFP – Alex HALADA

Faced with those who believe that his election “would endanger the future of Jews in Austria”, Walter Rosenkranz denounced “lies” upon his inauguration and promised that “what has been undertaken in this Assembly to fight anti-Semitism will obviously be continued”.

In the event of a boycott, because of his presence, of the commemorations by the Jewish community, which has always refused any contact with the FPÖ, he would agree to step aside.

FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl praised Walter Rosenkranz's “unwavering loyalty” to “our beloved Republic of Austria” and “his unfailing loyalty to democracy, the Constitution and the rule of law.”

This criminal lawyer, a former presidential candidate, has been part of a far-right corporation (Burschenschaft), “Libertas”, since 1981, which introduced the Aryan paragraph in 1878, prohibiting the integration of Jews.

During the Second World War, many Burschenschafters were actors in the Nazi extermination machine in an Austria annexed by Adolf Hitler.

“This paragraph has long since been abolished,” Mr. Rosenkranz recently reacted, questioned by the press Austrian, stressing that “all sorts of things can be dug up from the internet.”

– Excluded from negotiations –

Before the vote, Oskar Deutsch, the representative of the Jewish community of Vienna (IKG), expressed his indignation in an open letter to the deputies about the profile of this man from the “revisionist camp”, who pays “straightforward homage to Nazi criminals”.

The Greens also spoke out against this “disastrous signal”, “incompatible with Europe”, seeing it as “an affront to all survivors” of Nazism.

Employees count ballots for the election of the president of the parliament, on October 24, 2024 in Vienna, Austria © AFP – Alex HALADA

The Austrian Mauthausen Committee (MKÖ), which represents former concentration camp deportees, deemed such a choice “unacceptable”.

In an article published by a far-right newspaper, Walter Rosenkranz “praised Nazi prosecutor general Johann Stich, who had 44 resistance fighters executed”, stressed MKÖ chairman Willi Mernyi. A text defended by the person concerned in an interview from 2022.

Another element for which he is criticized is the award by his corporation of a prize to the neo-Nazi group “Bund Freier Jugend” for its resistance to state repression. Mr Rosenkranz said he was not involved in the decision but “supported the decisions” of his peers.

The FPÖ recruits its executives from closed, hierarchical male fraternities, whose students bond for life, practice initiatory sword duels and remain influential among the elite.

While the party managed to win the presidency of Parliament, it remains excluded for the moment from negotiations to form a government, due to a lack of allies.

Faced with the impasse, Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen this week gave the mandate to the conservatives who came second, who officially begin talks on Friday with the social democrats who came third.

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