Current poll

Majority of FPÖ voters see Kickl’s Öxit plans

The FPÖ under Kickl rejects an Öxit, but the voters see it differently.(Bild: APA/Erwin Scheriau)

In a recent survey, a majority of Austrians believe that FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl wants an "Öxit" - Austria's exit from the EU. A majority of FPÖ voters also see it that way. However, the Freedom Party rejects such plans.

According to the survey published on Thursday by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), 56% of FPÖ voters and 59% of voters from other parties believe Kickl has "Öxit" plans. The survey was carried out in a total of twelve EU states. According to the survey, the FPÖ leader is one of the right-wing populist party leaders who are perceived to have the greatest desire to leave the European Union.

"Nexit" and "Swexit"
Only the Dutch right-wing populist Geert Wilders has a more stable opinion. Sixty-three percent of both his voters and other voters ascribe a desire to leave to Wilders. For the leader of the Sweden Democrats, Jimmie Åkesson, it is 67% of his own voters and 57% of other voters. These high figures are not surprising, as both politicians openly campaigned for a "Nexit" or "Swexit" for years.

The FPÖ has so far rejected the idea of an "Öxit" after the issue played an important role in the failed presidential ambitions of FPÖ candidate Norbert Hofer in 2016.

Just behind Kickl are the leaders of the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD), Tino Chrupalla and Alice Weidel. 58% of AfD voters, but only 55% of voters from other parties, believe that Chrupalla and Weidel are aiming for a "dexit".

Facts about the survey

• The survey was conducted online by the Datapraxis and YouGov institutes in January 2024.
• Voters aged 18 and over in Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Sweden were surveyed.

Perceptions often diverge
Perceptions of the right-wing populist party leaders in Poland, Hungary and France differ significantly. While only 21% of Jarosław Kaczyński's and 18% of Viktor Orbán's voters ascribe a desire to leave the EU to the two party leaders, 66% and 49% of voters of other parties in Poland and Hungary respectively have this perception. The opposite is true in France. 58% of voters for French right-wing populist Marine Le Pen see her as a "Frexit" banner carrier, but only 38% of voters for other parties do.

The FPÖ under Kickl rejects an Öxit, but voters see it differently.(Bild: APA/Erwin Scheriau)

Does Orban want Hungary to leave the EU? Many people who would not vote for his party think so.(Bild: AP)

Meloni perceived as pro-European
In this context, the strong pro-European perception of the Italian head of government, Giorgia Meloni, is remarkable. Only 18% of voters of other Italian parties and 15% of voters of her "Fratelli d'Italia" believe that Meloni is aiming for an "Italexit". This gives her the lowest score of all the right-wing populist party leaders surveyed.

The survey follows the strategy of the Brussels elites, who denounce all those forces fighting against the massive undesirable developments as enemies of Europe.

Kein gutes Haar an der Umfrage lässt FPÖ-Abgeordnete Petra Steger.

The FPÖ is not happy with the opinion poll. "The survey clearly follows the strategy of the centralist Brussels elites, who denounce all those forces fighting against the massive undesirable developments in key areas such as asylum, climate change and warmongering as enemies of Europe and accuse them of wanting to leave", FPÖ Member of the National Council Petra Steger announced in a press release on Thursday.

"Europe of the Fatherlands" instead of "Öxit"
The "patriotic forces" would rather "campaign for a return to a Europe of fatherlands and want to give their home countries back their national sovereignty", emphasized the number two on the FPÖ's list of EU candidates. She suspected a political motivation behind the survey and pointed out that the ECFR's financiers include not only the European Parliament but also "the usual suspect globalist organizations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Soros family's Open Society Foundation and the Heinrich Böll Foundation, the party academy of the German Greens".