Austrian, Italian Anti-Establishment Gov'ts May Help Unify EU Policy - Lawmaker

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The anti-establishment governments that had recently come to power in Austria and in Italy can jointly steer the European Union toward a unified policy, Philipp Schrangl, a lawmaker from Freedom Party of Austria (FPO), told Sputnik.

"I hope that Italian — Austrian friendship will be good and that we can do something… I think it has to do with the European Union… We don’t have one voice and that is the problem. We need to have one voice together and not different points of view," Philipp Schrangl said on the sidelines of International Forum "Development of Parliamentarism" in Moscow.

The Austrian lawmaker remarked on the rise of anti-establishment parties across Europe, especially visible since the 2016 Brexit referendum in the United Kingdom, and suggested it could be linked to the European Commission (EC) misunderstanding its role.

According to Schrangl, the EC is not always providing "a strong European voice" on various issues, including migration crisis.

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In Italy, a coalition of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) and anti-immigration Lega party were able to form a government earlier in June after weeks of talks and the rejection of their first attempt to form a cabinet.

In Austria, the alliance of the right-wing FPO and the Conservative Austrian People's Party formed a government in December.

Lega leader and Italy's new interior minister, Matteo Salvini, has promised a tougher stance on migration. The Austrian government has already begun toughening its policy, including proposed cuts to main social benefits for non-German speaking immigrants.