Austria's new right-of-center coalition government wants to further deepen relations with Germany, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said Monday before he assumed office.

"Many personal, economic, political and cultural ties bind us to Germany," the 31-year-old told Germany's Bild newspaper.

Kurz was sworn in as chancellor on Monday, after his center-right People's Party (ÖVP) reached a coalition agreement during the weekend with the right-wing Freedom Party (FPÖ).

At least 6,000 demonstrators gathered in the Austrian capital to demonstrate against the FPÖ's inclusion in the government.

The shift to the right in Austria has led to uncertainty at the EU-level over how the new government will engage with Brussels. However, Kurz has sought to dispel any concerns his tough immigration stance would strain ties with Germany and Brussels.

Demonstrators protested against the new government, saying the FPÖ should be excluded from power in Austria

'One more ally in Europe'

As foreign minister, Kurz frequently criticized Berlin over immigration policy, and FPÖ leader Heinz-Christian Strache once called German Chancellor Angela Merkel "the most dangerous woman in Europe."

"I am looking forward to further cooperation with the German government, and especially with Chancellor Angela Merkel – above all in further deepening our excellent bilateral relationship and also within the European Union," Kurz said.

While Vienna's incoming government encountered mixed responses in Germany, Merkel's conservative Bavarian allies, the CSU, have been positive.

"With Sebastian Kurz, Bavaria and Germany have one more ally in Europe," Alexander Dobrindt, the head of the CSU's parliamentary group in the German Bundestag, told Die Welt newspaper.

Young heads of government or state – Sebastian Kurz is not alone Sebastian Kurz, Austria Sebastian Kurz, the leader of the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP), is not the only youthful politician on the scene: In recent years there have been several national leaders who did not correspond to the classic image of the elder statesman at the time they took office.

Young heads of government or state – Sebastian Kurz is not alone Mario Frick, Liechtenstein In December 1993 Frick became prime minister of Liechtenstein at just 28 years old – the youngest head of government in the world. He presided over the fate of the world’s sixth-smallest country for more than seven years, until April 2001. An attorney by profession, Frick subsequently served as president of the Liechtenstein Bar Association from 2005 to 2014.

Young heads of government or state – Sebastian Kurz is not alone Pandeli Majko, Albania Majko, who recently became Albania’s Minister of State for Diaspora, served as the Albanian prime minister from September 1998 to October 1999, and again from February to July 2002. When he first took office in 1998 he was just 30 years old. Majko’s political career started very early, with his election to the Albanian parliament in 1992.

Young heads of government or state – Sebastian Kurz is not alone Igor Luksic, Montenegro The Montenegrin foreign minister from 2012 to 2016, Igor Luksic from the Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro was prime minister of his country from 2010 to 2012, and was aged 34 when he assumed office. Prior to this, from 2004 onwards, he served as his country’s finance minister — a job he was given when he was not yet 30.

Young heads of government or state – Sebastian Kurz is not alone Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan In 1998, Benazir Bhutto became the first woman to win a free election in an Islamic country. She was sworn in as prime minister of Pakistan on 2 December 1988, at the age of 35. Bhutto held the office until 1990, then again from 1993 to 1996. From 1999 to 2007 she lived in exile in Dubai. She was assassinated on 27 December 2007, two weeks before again contesting the parliamentary elections.

Young heads of government or state – Sebastian Kurz is not alone Viktor Orban, Hungary The current prime minister of Hungary, who is renowned for his anti-refugee policies, held the office once before, from 1998 to 2002. Orban, the leader and co-founder of the national-conservative Fidesz party, was 35 years old when he was first elected.

Young heads of government or state – Sebastian Kurz is not alone Atifete Jahjaga, Kosovo Jahjaga was president of Kosovo from 2011 to 2016, becoming the first woman to head the Kosovar government. At 36, she was also the youngest person elected to that office in the country. The minimum age for candidates is 35.

Young heads of government or state – Sebastian Kurz is not alone Emmanuel Macron, France On May 7, 2017 Emmanuel Macron won the second round of the presidential election against the French nationalist Marine Le Pen, becoming the youngest-ever president of France at the age of 39. Prior to this, from 2014 to 2016, he was the minister of the economy under socialist President Francois Hollande.

Young heads of government or state – Sebastian Kurz is not alone Youssef Chahed, Tunisia Chahed, the current prime minister of Tunisia, was 40 years old when he took office. He held various posts in the country’s first democratically elected government from 2015 onwards, under Prime Minister Habib Essid. After Essid lost a parliamentary vote of confidence, the Tunisian president eventually proposed Chahed as the new prime minister, and he assumed the office on 27 August 2016. Author: Carla Bleiker



Degree of alarm

The CSU has pushed hard for Merkel's CDU to implement a stricter immigration policy, including a cap on asylum seekers and restrictions on family reunification.

But the Social Democrats (SPD) have reacted with a degree of alarm to a shift to the right in Austria, where their Social Democrat counterparts are now out of government.

Achim Post, the vice-chairman of the SPD's parliamentary group, told Die Welt that Kurz, Strache and Hungary's Victor Orban have similar views. This would especially impact asylum policy, he said.

ls,cw/ng (AFP, dpa)