Austria’s Europe and Integration Minister Claudia Bauer has begun preparing an outline for a proposed ban on political Islam through a federal constitutional law after Chancellor Christian Stocker called for the measure on August 28, declaring that a political understanding of Islam was incompatible with Austria’s democracy and Western values.
Stocker, the center-right Austrian People’s Party chancellor, said Austria would continue to protect religious freedom while drawing a line at political efforts that deny equal treatment to believers and nonbelievers or to men and women. “If Islam is understood politically, it is incompatible with our democracy and our Western values,” Stocker told Heute. He called for confronting the political use of religion “with full force” and said he supported a ban through a federal constitutional law.
Minister Prepares Broader Legal Package
Bauer is preparing an initial framework for the government’s three-party coalition. She said the contemplated package could extend beyond a constitutional law into association law, laws governing religious communities and other legal areas.
Bauer described political Islam as “the greatest danger of our time” and said it seeks to place itself above the democratic constitutional state, reshape society and state institutions, restrict the freedom of girls and women and undermine peaceful religious coexistence.
The coalition has not yet approved a proposal. NEOS parliamentary leader Yannick Shetty said any ban would require a clear definition capable of withstanding legal scrutiny, while SPÖ State Secretary Jörg Leichtfried said his party would examine the ÖVP’s proposal. A federal constitutional law requires a two-thirds majority of votes cast with at least half the members of Austria’s National Council present.
Austria’s Directorate of State Security and Intelligence has publicly welcomed discussion of additional measures. DSN chief Sylvia Mayer said action against legalistic Islamism must take place on multiple levels and with clear objectives, warning that it poses dangers to Austrian democracy.
Muslim Brotherhood Influence Under Scrutiny
On August 28, the DSN announced that it had found indications of Muslim Brotherhood influence over DERAD, a deradicalization organization that had worked with convicted offenders and people released from prison on behalf of several Austrian ministries. The Justice Ministry subsequently ended its cooperation with the organization.
The DSN defines political or legalistic Islam as efforts to gradually reshape social and political structures according to Islamist ideology. It classifies the Muslim Brotherhood as part of that sphere and says there are efforts within the broader milieu to entrench Islamist ideas, including the long-term establishment of Sharia and a caliphate as a state or social order.
Existing Legal Restrictions
Austria’s Symbols Act already prohibits the public display, showing, wearing or dissemination of specified symbols of the Muslim Brotherhood, Islamic State, al-Qaeda and other listed groups, subject to statutory exceptions.
Bauer has said she wants a broader accompanying legal package, but until legislative language and a binding definition are published, it remains unclear which organizations, activities or institutions would fall within its scope.