The big interview

Kickl wants to send young offenders to “boot camps”

Herbert Kickl has been Federal Party Chairman of the FPÖ since June 2021.(Bild: klemens groh)

He is ahead in all polls, but no party wants to govern with a "people's chancellor": The FPÖ chairman talks to Conny Bischofberger about boot camps for youth gangs, Hungarian asylum policy, Haider's biggest mistake and a concern that his mother shares with Herbert Kickl's fans.

On the penultimate floor of the FPÖ parliamentary club, Kickl's staff are waiting for the go-ahead for the "Krone" interview on Friday lunchtime. When the okay is given, they take the last flight of stairs up to the spartanly furnished executive office. Herbert Kickl stands in front of his desk, next to it on a sideboard is a photo of Karoline Edtstadler, dressed in the colors of the Russian flag, with Vladimir Putin - probably an allusion to the ÖVP's connections to Russia. Next to appointment folders and files is the "Dictionary of Marxist-Leninist Philosophy" - "a little excursion into Babler's world", as he casually explains. There are no golden pens to be seen.