The former Austrian Chancellor, Karl Nehammer of the ÖVP, issued a strong warning against treating the concept of “remigration” merely as a matter of semantics. According to Nehammer in an interview with the Austrian edition of “Die Zeit”, “Remigration entails both violence and a breach of international law.” He argued that allowing the concept to stand would lead to arbitrary decisions regarding who should leave and who is allowed to stay.
Nehammer questioned the proponents of remigration, asking what measures they would deploy if they declared they would enforce it by all means available. “By force?” he inquired. He stressed that such enforcement is impossible within a liberal democracy, noting that it would eliminate legal constraints, fundamental rights restrictions, and the principle of proportionality.
Reflecting on his own political career, Nehammer-who served as Chancellor from 2021 to 2025 and previously as Minister of the Interior-recounted his decision in the 2024 election campaign not to form a coalition with Herbert Kickl’s FPÖ. After coalition talks failed with the Social Democrats (SPÖ) and the New Right (Neos), he stepped down in January 2025. He described the move as “one of the heaviest political decisions of my life,” but also “one of the most correct,” stating his rejection of Kickl due to what he viewed as a form of radicalization.
Regarding the debate surrounding the German “Brandmauer” (firewall), Nehammer expressed little concern. He contended that the “Brandmauer” is simply a term, and that what truly matters is “having a stance and using that stance for politics.”
Looking ahead to the elections in Saxony-Anhalt and the prospects of the AfD, he observed that a phenomenon is visible there that “has been festering in other major European countries for a long time.” Nehammer drew a historical parallel, pointing out that democracies have, in history, even eliminated themselves. He concluded by emphasizing, “We must realize more strongly that the way we live is not a given.”
