Austria to debate referendum on Turkey and EU constitution
Austria's far-right Freedom Party has collected enough signatures for a parliament debate on holding a referendum on Turkey's EU membership and the EU constitution.
The "Austria, stay free" petition was launched by the FPO (Freedom Party) on March 6 and closed on late 13 March.
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According to the interior ministry, the poll gathered 258,277 signatures, above the threshold of 100,000 supporters needed to push the parliamentary debate on its proposal.
However, observers doubt the chances of the initiative, which has been backed by 4.28 percent of the country's voters.
The FPO petition calls for decisions on the new EU constitution and Turkey's accession to the union to be made by popular referendums.
A referendum on Austria's neutrality to be clearly spelled out in its constitution should also be held, according to the initiative.
The FPO leader Heinz-Christian Strache, a successor of its former head Jorg Haider, said the result of the petition was an "awesome success," according to AFP.
He also suggested the law on petitions should be changed so that a petition drawing a minimum of 250,000 signatures would automatically lead to a referendum.
But Mr Strache's political opponents have played down the result of the initiative, with Reinhold Lopatka from the conservative OVP claiming referendums would be "unnecessary and expensive," as they would cost taxpayers €2 million.
The country's social democrats have expressed similar views, while political analysts stressed that the number of signatures under the petition is less than FPO would need to get seats in the parliament after this autumn's elections.
Out of 32 petitions in Austrian history, the FPO's plan ended up on the twenty first place regarding the number of signatories.
However, observers note that the upcoming parliamentary debate on the anti-EU petition as well as its media coverage may further fuel the already eurosceptic and anti-Turkey views of Austria's electorate.
According to the latest Eurobarometer statistics, only 32 percent of Austrians consider the EU as a good thing, while like 80 percent of voters are against Turkey's EU membership, compared to an EU average of 39 percent.