Austria’s Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz, right, talks with his Macedonian counterpart Nikola Poposki, left, during an election rally of Macedonia’s ruling VMRO-DPMNE party in Macedonia’s capital Skopje, on Sunday. Photo: Boris Grdanoski/AP

Kurz, who was accused of supporting authoritarianism after appearing at an election rally for Macedonia’s embattled ruling VMRO DPMNE party on Sunday, stated that he “attended the rally in my capacity as member of the European People’s Party.”

The European People’s Party is a centre-right transnational coalition made up of other political parties.

Kurz, who is also visiting Skopje today, drew a distinction between the rally appearance and his official meetings with Macedonian dignitaries on Monday, which he will attend in his capacity as Austrian Foreign Minister.

Critics accused Austria’s top diplomat Kurz of hypocrisy and shameful conduct for openly endorsing Macedonia’s ruling VMRO DPMNE party – which is accused of authoritarian tendencies – by speaking at its election campaign rally on Sunday in Skopje.

Kurz also came under fire for saying that Macedonia is on the right path towards EU integration – an opinion which contradicts the last European Commission report on the country.

Florian Bieber, a lecturer at the Centre for Southeast European Studies and at the University of Graz, said that Kurz’s backing for the party, which has been in power for ten years, was unacceptable.

“You are endorsing an authoritarian gatekeeper over a democratic EU member candidate. Shameful,” Bieber wrote on Twitter.

Some critics reminded Kurz of the European Commission progress report, which said that the “state capture” of democratic institutions was disturbing, pinpointing many shortcomings in the rule of law and in freedom of speech.

“The EC says state capture undermines the Macedonian democracy. Sebastian Kurz is in Skopje to endorse the captors at their party rally,” former Macedonian Deputy Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov, who is also the country’s former ambassador to the United States and the Netherlands, wrote on Twitter.

“So respect for rule of law turns irrelevant once you help keeping refugees out? Is this Austria’s alleged support of Macdeonia’s path to EU?” the deputy chairman of the European Stability Initiative, Kristof Bender asked on Twitter.

Kurz addressed the VMRO DPMNE rally in the capital on Sunday, backing the party for the December 11 early general elections and saying that it is a guarantor of Macedonia’s Euro-Atlantic future.

“We are especially happy that Macedonia is on a good path towards the European Union,” Kurz said.

He continued by praising the VMRO DPMNE-led government for helping his own country deal with the refugee crisis.

“Macedonia is a very important partner for Austria and we are particularly grateful for the support we received from Macedonia in 2015 and 2016. The refugee crisis was a major challenge for Austria. Without your government, we wouldn’t be able to close the Balkan Route,” he said.

“I’m very grateful that you supported us in this very difficult situation,” he added.

Although he said that he was there merely as a guest from a sister centre-right party, Kurz’s hosts announced him in his formal capacity as the Austrian foreign minister.

He also spoke of his admiration for his Macedonian counterpart, Nikola Poposki, who is now high on the candidate list of the ruling party.

The December 11 elections come amid a deep and long-running political crisis in the country that revolves around opposition’s claims that former Prime Minister and VMRO DPMNE party leader Nikola Gruevski was the mastermind behind the illegal surveillance of over 20,000 people, including his own ministers, which he has denied.

The opposition has also claimed that tapes of the illegally-recorded conversations provide evidence that many top members of government and their associates were involved in serious illegal schemes including rigging general and presidential elections in 2014, manipulating the justice system, intimidating and controlling the media, and covering up the murder of a young man by a police officer.

The upcoming election follows two years of large anti-government protests – attended by tens of thousands of people at their peak – sparked by the release of the tapes.

NOTE: This article was amended on November 28 to include a comment from Austria’s Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz.