The majority of the Austrian population supports Vienna’s refusal to accept the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to Schengen, with the majority of supporters being voters of the ruling conservatives (OeVP) and the nationalist FPOe party, according to a poll cited by the Austrian press. Sunday.

Thus, 52 percent of respondents said they approve of the decision to block Romania and Bulgaria in Schengen, and 34 percent said they disagree.

The right of veto on Schengen is most approved by the voters of OeVP and FPOe.

On the other hand, the survey confirms that the nationalists from the Freedom Party (FPOe) are the most popular and outperform the traditional Austrian parties. In fact, Chancellor Karl Nehhammer’s conservatives are only third in the electorate’s preferences. With 26 percent, the Freedom Party is in first place, ahead of the Social Democrats of the SPOe, who have 24 percent, and the conservatives of the OeVP, who have 22 percent.

NEOS, a liberal party relatively new to the Austrian political landscape, and the Greens, who are minority partners in the government, are in fourth place with 11 percent.

Currently, the extremist MFG party, which unites anti-vaccinationists and conspiracy theorists, would have a three percent share and thus would not get into the National Council (the lower house of the Austrian parliament).

According to the survey, the upward trend of FPOe continues, while SPOe has slipped to second place. The reason for this is probably the indecisive attitude towards asylum and Schengen. The last time SPOe was below 25 percent was in the summer of 2021, the public opinion polling agency states.

Who threatens the chair of the Austrian chancellor

If there were to be an election for chancellor, Karl Nehhammer would remain the leader with a 30 percent approval rating, ahead of FPOe leader Herbert Kickl, who is estimated to have 25 percent of voting intentions. SPOe leader Pamela Randi-Wagner trailed Kickle for the first time since October 2021 with 22 percent of the vote. NEOS leader Meinl-Reisinger (12%) and his colleague from the Greens, current Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler (10%) are far behind.

But if the governor of Burgenland (Austria’s easternmost land bordering Hungary – no), social democrat Hans Peter Doskozil, had run for the position of chancellor, the situation would have been different. In that case, Doskozil would be in first place with 31 percent of voting intentions, followed by incumbent Chancellor Karl Nehammer (25 percent) and Freedom Party leader Herbert Kickl (21 percent). According to a sociological study, Doskozil as the Social Democrats’ candidate for chancellor would make up for the center-left’s losses among center-right voters and undecided voters. .

In the Schengen debate, Austria’s Social Democrats took a hesitant stance, with some of the party’s top politicians criticizing the government, while party leader Pamela Randi-Wagner agreed to block Romania and Bulgaria. And Doskozil criticized the Minister of Internal Affairs, but reproached him for not being firm enough and not demanding more effective control at Bulgaria’s borders. As for the Greens, who are part of the government, they opposed blocking decisions at the EU level.

The survey “Austria Trends” (trends – no) was conducted by the “Peter Hayek” institute on the order of the APA press agency and ATV TV channel. From December 12 to 15, 800 people aged 16 and older were surveyed online and by phone, with a margin of error of plus/minus 3.5 percent.