Vienna, 26 January 2023 (dpa/MIA) – Alexander van der Bellen has called for a clearer international positioning of the European Union on the occasion of his swearing-in for a second term as Austria‘s federal president.

The EU has yet to find its geostrategic role, the 79-year-old head of state said on Thursday. “Otherwise, others will rule over us,” he said.

The former leader of the Green Party had just taken his oath for a second six-year term in office before members of both chambers of the Austrian parliament.

In an interview with the broadcaster ORF on the eve of the swearing-in ceremony, the head of state was asked whether he would entrust the leader of the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), Herbert Kickl, with forming a government after an election victory. Van der Bellen said he would try not to “promote an anti-European party, a party that does not condemn Russia’s war against Ukraine.”

A survey carried out for the magazine Profil suggests that 28% of Austrians currently support the FPÖ. According to the survey, both the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) with 24%, and the conservative Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) led by Chancellor Karl Nehammer with 22%, are lagging behind.

Van der Bellen won the presidential election in October with 56.7% of the vote. Most of the other parliamentary parties supported the popular head of state and refrained from running their own candidates. Only the FPÖ and some smaller groups stood against him.