What explains the rise of Austria’s Freedom Party?

We don’t hear much about Austrian politics in Britain, which is not perhaps surprising since the landlocked Central European republic of some nine million souls, is scarcely a major player on Europe’s chessboard. Nonetheless Austria, like Britain, will hold elections this year, and a populist party with Nazi roots looks certain to emerge with the most votes.

On Friday, thousands of young Austrians took to the streets of Vienna and Salzburg in demonstrations spilling over from neighbouring Germany against the rise of right-wing anti immigration parties in both countries. They were specifically protesting about a recent meeting of far-right activists near Berlin that discussed a plan to deport migrants to their countries of origin.

On the streets of Vienna, it’s not hard to discern the issue that has propelled the Freedom Party (FPÖ) to outstrip it’s traditional socialist and conservative rivals to win a standing of 30 percentage points, according to current polls.That