Austria’s chancellor has called for a constitutional ban on what he described as “political Islam,” escalating a debate over religion, democracy and national values in the country.
In an interview with Heute, Christian Stocker, who has headed the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) since January 2025, said last week that Islam becomes a threat when it is turned into a political project. “If Islam is interpreted politically, it is incompatible with our democracy and our Western values,” he said.
Stocker insisted that the proposal was not aimed at banning Islam as a religion in Austria. He said religious freedom must remain protected, adding: “We uphold freedom of religion – everyone can believe what they want and practice their faith. But when religion is used politically, we must oppose it with the utmost resolve.”
He went on to argue that the issue should be addressed at the highest legal level, saying: “I am therefore in favour of banning political Islam through a constitutional law.”
Muslims are Austria’s largest religious minority, accounting for 8.3 per cent of the population, according to the country’s 2021 census.
Both the number and percentage of Muslims have grown since at least the 1970s.
Mr Stocker added in a social media post this week: ‘I do not want our children and grandchildren to grow up in an Islamic State. In Austria, everyone can believe what they want.
‘This freedom of faith is protected by our constitution. But where believers and non-believers are distinguished, where men and women are not equal, where our institutions, authorities and courts are not respected, that freedom ends.
A police officer asks a muslim woman to unveil her face in Zell am See, Austria, on October 1, 2017
‘Just as we protect the practice of religion, we must protect our democracy.’
The move was supported by Integration Minister Claudia Bauer, who said: ‘Radical Islam is the greatest danger of our time, for our Western democracy, for the freedom of girls and women and for everyone who wants to live their religion peacefully and freely.’
Following his announcement last week, other parties have expressed a willingness to back these measures.
Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) State Secretary Jörg Leichtfried said on Monday that democracies needed to defend themselves ‘when a religion is misused to attack this state governed by the rule of law and this democracy’.
Mr Leichtfried, who oversees the Directorate State Protection and Intelligence Service, said his party wants to look at the ÖVP’s proposals, discuss them ‘and then jointly decide on something in that direction’.
The NEOS party said on Sunday it was ‘open to anything that makes Austria safer’, though its parliamentary group leader Yannick Shetty said it was waiting for a ‘legally feasible proposal’.
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Legal experts have said that because there is no clearly defined idea of ‘political Islam’, a legally enforceable ban would be tricky to get off the ground.
Constitutional law expert Peter Bußjäger told a local broadcaster that anti-democratic activities are already banned under existing laws, adding that he did not see what additional benefits a separate ban on political Islam would bring.
Earlier this year, a poll in Austria found that 41 per cent of young Muslims agree with the statement that their religious beliefs supersede the country’s laws.
The report, which explores religious attitudes among young people, was commissioned by the City of Vienna and was based on interviews with 1,200 people aged between 14 and 21.
Researchers also found that 46 per cent of young Muslims interviewed believed people should be prepared to ‘fight and die’, Austrian newspaper Heute reports.
In addition, 65 per cent said Islamic rules should apply strictly to all aspects of daily life.
Responding to the study, General Secretary of the ÖVP, Nico Marchetti, said the findings paint a ‘devastating picture’ and must serve as a ‘clear warning signal’.
He said: ‘If 41 per cent of young Muslims place Islamic precepts above our laws, then that is a situation we cannot accept. Anyone who comes to us must adapt and become part of our society.’
The ÖVP General Secretary continued: ‘Austria must not and will not become a caliphate. Anyone who rejects these principles has no place in our country.’
Chancellor Christian Stocker (pictured) said: ‘If Islam is interpreted politically, it is incompatible with our democracy and our Western values’
The findings also prompted a strong reaction from Austria’s Right-wing opposition party FPÖ.
Politician Harald Vilimsky said on X: ‘We’ve been warning about this for decades. Got insulted and slandered for it. Now Sharia is entrenched in Europe.’
Vienna’s FPÖ leader Dominik Nepp said the results were ‘an alarm signal for the whole of Austria’ and blamed the situation on decades of failed migration and integration policies under the city’s Social Democratic leadership.
In 2017, a Chatham House poll found that 65 per cent of Austrians agreed with the statement that ‘all further migration from mainly Muslim countries should be stopped’.
Austrian respondents were some of the most likely to agree with the statement.
