EUROPE - Kurz leads a stable coalition government after a clear electoral victory based in part on his stringent stance on the issue that is the conservative Merkel's Achilles' heel: how to stem the flow of migrants and refugees to Europe. German and Austrian conservatives now seem to have agreed on a formula for their future approach to the issue: "The EU should determine who comes to Europe and not the human traffickers."
Both Kurz and Merkel used these words and stressed their support for stepping up protection of the European Union's external borders and make them less permeable. And both stressed that the priority was preventing people from entering the bloc, rather than by distributing migrants within it… When the ÖVP won the Austrian national election last October, one of the first and most prominent German conservatives to congratulate Kurz was Jens Spahn.
The 37-year-old Member of the Bundestag, who posted pictures of himself together with Kurz on Twitter, is widely thought to have his eyes on inheriting Merkel's positions both within the party and the German government some day. Pictures have also circulated of Spahn meeting with fellow conservative Alexander Dobrindt (47) and Christian Lindner of the center-right Free Democratic Party (39), fueling speculation that the trio may have been discussing a post-Merkel alliance.