Freedom Party

The astonishing rise of the extreme-right party, ‘Freedom Party’ (FPO), in Austria, after it defeated both the establishment parties in the first round of Sunday’s Presidential elections, has raised serious concerns.

Austria's far right won more than a third of the vote in the presidential election on April 24 and will face an independent in next month's run-off, dumping out the country's two main parties from the post for the first time. 

Geert Wilders, the Dutch far-right politician who was acquitted five years ago of making anti-Islam remarks, went on trial again on March 18 for hate speech and discrimination against the Moroccan minority.

Reactions continued on Monday afternoon in the wake of the landslide “no” vote a day earlier in the Greek referendum, with German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble noting from Warsaw that Yanis Varoufakis’ successor will also have a tough time working out a deal with European creditors.

By Corina Ruhe

After months of pressuring Greek politicians, Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem was under scrutiny himself Thursday over his handling of state-owned lender ABN Amro Group NV.

Dutch voters headed to the polls on March 18 in local elections that look set to deal a blow to Prime Minister Mark Rutte by indirectly undermining his center-right government in the upper house of parliament.

Provincial elections determine the make-up of the upper house because the winners get to pick new senators in May.

The term "Islamophobia" entered the global political language in the past decade.

Austria's parliament on Feb. 25 passed a law banning foreign sources of financing to Muslim organisations and requiring imams to be able to speak German, in a move closely watched by other European nations facing growing problems with radical Islam.
      

The German movement Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West (PEGIDA) held it first rally in Austria on Monday.

However PEGIDA failed to attract as many supporters as it usually does in its marches in Germany, the BBC reports.

A group of politicians led by Mustafa Özçelik issued a petition to the Interior Ministry for the formation of a new party named “Partiya Azadiya Kürdistan,” (PAK) in Kurdish, meaning “Kurdistan Freedom Party,” becoming the first political party officially demanding separation from the Republic of Turkey.