“I want a pro-European Austria committed to the old values of freedom, equality and solidarity”: these are the first words of the new Austrian president Alexander Van der Bellen. The green candidate won the presidential elections with 53,6% of the votes, effectively defeating his populist opponent Norbert Hofer for the second time in the runoff, who had obtained the annulment of the previous elections due to voting irregularities.
Van der Bellen's victory "is a heavy defeat for retrograde and anti-European nationalism and populism", tweeted the president of the European Parliament Martin Schulz, who, congratulating the new president underlined how he won with "a campaign and a clearly pro-European message”.
