The leaders of the centrist coalition government in Vienna are reportedly set to agree to a ban on Sharia Law, with Chancellor Christian Stocker declaring that there is no room for a “caliphate” in Austria.
Last year, controversy erupted after the Vienna Regional Court for Civil Matters ruled that agreements made in Sharia tribunals are legally valid in civil disputes, sparking concern that Austria’s Christian heritage and Western values were being undermined by mass migration from the Muslim world.
In response to the ruling, the governing coalition is reportedly set to ban the use of Sharia in legal agreements, the Austrian daily Österreich reports.
The three leaders of the government, Chancellor Christian Stocker of the centre-right Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP), Vice Chancellor Andreas Babler of the centre-left Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ), and International Affairs Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger of the liberal New Austria and Liberal Forum (NEOS) will are set to gather for their annual retreat in the leafy Mauerbach suburb of Vienna.
Typically focused on economic matters, this year’s summit will reportedly see the leaders agree to a ban on Sharia law and discuss “measures in the area of migration.”
It comes after a declaration from Chancellor Stocker, who has vowed that “there can and will be no caliphate in Austria.”
Stocker has said that he is “not prepared to accept that Sharia, a legal system for a theocracy that contradicts our values, is valid in Austria, even if only in individual provisions.”
Critics have accused the ÖVP Chancellor of engaging in “symbolic politics” in a bid to stave off the rise of the anti-mass migration Freedom Party (FPÖ) of populist leader Herbert Kickl, who was prevented from taking power after the 2024 elections by the left and right establishment parties banding together to form the current coalition.
The ÖVP has also come under criticism from its coalition partners for taking an increasingly rhetorical hard line on Islamic immigration, with a social media post citing a study that two-thirds of Austrians “find living together with Muslims difficult,” drawing the ire of the Social Democrats.
In addition to the reported plan to ban Sharia in civil disputes, the government is also set to prohibit the wearing of Islamic headscarves for schoolgirls under the age of 14.
Islamic immigration to Austria has had a significant impact on the nation’s school system, with Muslims now representing the largest religious cohort in Viennese elementary and middle schools at 41.2 per cent, compared to Christians at 34.5 per cent.
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