The kid goes all right

摘要

SEBASTIAN KURZ has a problem. On October 15th Austria's 31-year old foreign minister scored an impressive election victory, somehow presenting himself as a credible messenger of change even though his centre-right Austrian People's Party (oEvp) has been in office for 30 years. His energy and charisma kept the Freedom Party (fpoE), a far-right outfit with neo-Nazi roots, from running the country; it had led in the polls for two years before Mr Kurz took over as chairman of the oEvp in May. But to govern Mr Kurz needs a coalition partner, and the fpoE, which came third in the election, is his first choice. Now Europe is left wondering whether Austria's political whizz kid is fending off a populist uprising, or preparing to lead it.