The commanding victory of populist parties in the national election will reverberate beyond Austria. Sebastian Kurz, when foreign minister, closed routes through the Balkans for immigrants, and his party spearheaded laws banning full-face Muslim veils in public spaces. His political rise follows the far right gaining influence in Germany last month. Nationalist and anti-immigrant forces across the EU are feeling emboldened by the vote, which could bring the Islamophobic Freedom Party to power in a coalition government in Vienna. The People's Party want to fine migrants who refuse to attend integration and language classes, but the Freedom Party calls for dropping such classes completely. It has also pledged to deny migrants access to welfare payments altogether. If the two parties became coalition partners, Austrian politics would take a seismic shift to the right.