The outgoing Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern | Leon Neal/Getty Images | Leon Neal/Getty Images Austrian chancellor to Turkey: ‘You simply are not a membership candidate’ Christian Kern says EU could ‘never in a lifetime’ digest the economic impact of Turkey’s accession.

Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern said that the European Union could “never in a lifetime” digest the economic impact of Turkey joining the bloc, ruling out any future prospects for membership.

Speaking to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in an interview published Thursday, Kern said that due to economic considerations, along with “democratic reasons, it is legitimate to tell the Ankara regime clearly: you simply are not a candidate for membership.”

Kern also accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of “dictatorial violence,” adding that in Turkey “almost all red lines have been crossed.”

On Tuesday, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini announced that Turkey “clearly is and stays a candidate country,” but a recent setback in relations “makes it difficult in this moment to imagine the opening of further chapters.”

The Austrian leader, a member of the Social Democratic Party, faces a strong challenge from Sebastian Kurz, the 30-year old leader of the conservative Austrian People’s Party, as well as the far-right Freedom Party, in an upcoming election in October.

Warning against further EU funds going to Turkey, Kern said: “We pay more than €3 billion euros to Turkey for accession. We cannot pay for the implementation of legal structures and experience the opposite. We cannot explain this to German and Austrian taxpayers.”