BRUSSELS boss Jean-Claude Juncker has told new Austrian election winner Sebastian Kurz he must form a “pro-European government”.
The success of the 31-year-old, who is poised to become the continent’s youngest leader, has been tentatively welcomed by the European Union’s leading figures.
But they have warned “Wunderwuzzi” (boy wonder) against forming a coalition with the far-right.
Mr Kurz, whose Austrian People’s Party topped the polls after promising a tough line on immigration, is still weighing up a coalition with the country’s far-right Freedom Party (FPO).
In a letter of congratulations, Mr Juncker wished him success in forming a “stable, pro-European government”.
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But the European Commission president also warned Mr Kurz about attaching himself to the Eurosceptic party founded by former Nazis.
Mr Juncker has stopped short of pressing Mr Kurz to shun the FPO, as EU leaders did when Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel formed a coalition with the party then led by Joerg Haider in 2000.
But he said he was looking forward to the creation of an EU-supporting government with the leader-in-waiting.
Mr Kurz has promised a “new political culture” but has yet to reveal what shape he wants his new government to take amid intense closed-door negotiations.
He has described himself as pro-Brussels and even described last Sunday’s election result as a “clear victory for the European Union”.
But despite the pro-EU pledge, he has previously spoken about joining forces with the FPO, which would see Austria join Poland and Hungary as EU countries with openly anti-immigrant governments standing in defiance EU freedom of movement police.
And Mr Kurz claimed the credit for closing the Balkan migrant trail in 2016 that saw hundreds of thousands of refugees trek into western Europe.
Mr Kurz, who was appointed as a minister at the age of 27, made immigration his priority, which could put him at odds with the EU.
Austria has had almost 150,000 asylum claims since 2015 making it one of Europe’s highest recipients of migrants per person.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was not dramatically concerned about key differences with the youthful leader as she also offered her congratulations.
But she described the Freedom Party’s electoral success a big challenge for Austria amid wider concerns prompted by electoral successes of right-wing nationalists in Germany.