Leader of the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) Heinz-Christian Strache has said German Chancellor Angela Merkel was “Europe’s most dangerous woman” because of her migrant policies.

The anti-mass migration populist leader of the FPÖ spoke on the “state of the nation” at the Austrian parliament and used the opportunity to blast German Chancellor Angela Merkel calling her “the most dangerous woman in Europe”, reports Die Welt.

Mr. Strache acknowledged that whilst Mrs. Merkel is the most powerful woman in the European Union (EU), the actions of the German Chancellor were “criminal”. He said she bore responsibility for the floodgates being opened to millions of migrants from the Middle East and North Africa.

According to the FPÖ leader, the promises of Merkel to uphold the law and to control the migrant crisis were “empty words” as the crisis continues to impact Europe with thousands of migrants from Africa hitting the shores of Sicily and southern Italy every week.

Strache also hit out at the “welcome culture” he claimed that Merkel had fostered with her slogan “wir schaffen das”, or “we can do it”, saying that it helped “launch the largest migration of peoples for centuries”. He stated that mass migration had become a legitimate threat to Europe.

Calling the current threat an “abyss of evil”, Strache hit out at the mainstream media and political parties in Austria who had ignored the warnings of the party on mass migration and integration. “Ethno-culturally foreign immigration”, Strache said, should not exceed a fixed amount.

The policy of a cap on migrants or prioritisation of those from Christian or Western values backgrounds is a sentiment shared by the coalition partner of Mrs. Merkel, the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU), as well as the anti-mass migration Alternative for Germany (AfD).

Strache, along with the leader of the AfD Frauke Petry, has made a conscious effort to form alliances with other anti-mass migration parties and politicians like French Front National Leader Marine Le Pen under the banner of the Patriot Spring, a term coined by Dutch populist politician Geert Wilders.

The FPÖ are enjoying immense popularity in Austria as polls in Vienna show them with a 40 per cent favourability and many betting on their presidential candidate Norbert Hofer to win the delayed presidential election in December.

The popularity of the FPÖ follows the trend of other parties like the Front National, the AfD, and Geert Wilders’s Party for Freedom who are projected to win at least ten parliamentary seats more than the current ruling party in the coming Dutch national election next year.