Austria: Fascists in power as leader quits
01 January 2000
Amid Europe-wide protests the far-right Freiheitliche Partei Osterreichs (FPO) entered into a coalition government with the conservative Osterreichische Volkespartei (OVP) on February 3. In last October's parliamentary elections the Sozialdemokratische Partei (SPO) finished with 65 of the 183 seats, but were unable to form a majority government. The far-right FPO, who ran a virulent anti-foreigner campaign utilising nazi-inspired slogans referring to overpopulation by foreigners (überfremdung), finished second narrowly ahead of the OVP. Following the collapse of January's talks with the SPO, the leader of the OVP, Wolfgang Schussel, signed the pact which saw him become the new Chancellor.
During last year's election campaign Schussel pledged that he would go into opposition rather than form a government with the FPO. His talks with the far-right extremists resulted in them gaining ministerial seats: Susanne Riess-Passer (vice-Chancellor), Karl-Heinz Grasser (Finance), Michael Schmidt (Infrastructure), Herbert Scheibner (Defence), Elisabeth Sickl (Social Security) and Michael Krueger (Justice). Two other FPO members were appointed State Secretary for Tourism (Mares Rossmann) and State Secretary for Health (Reinhart Waneck). Two of the FPO's nominations were rejected by President Thomas Klestil who also insisted that Haider signed a declaration - "Responsibility for Austria: a future in the heart of Europe" - stating that: "The Federal Government works for an Austria in which xenophobia, anti-Semitism and racism have no place." However, European Parliament president, Nicole Fontaine, observed:
"The fact that President Klestil is getting a declaration from this government on the fundamental values of the European Union will clearly not be able to make us forget the insulting, xenophobic and racist statements of Joerg Haider. The Parliament...will be intransigent as regards respect of the principles of liberty, democracy, human rights and the rule of law."
Indeed, Haider went even further, apologising for the fascist ideology he has vocally supported in the past. He expressed regret at past comments diminishing the Holocaust, and eulogising Hitler's "employment practices" and the Waffen SS. This "u-turn" did not staunch the wave of world-wide condemnation which greeted Haider, and he was forced to resign as leader of the FPO at the end of February. However, many commentators see this as little more than a smokescreen - Haider's base in Carinthia will be maintained and predict he will attempt to re-emerge at the next elections.
The FPO's electoral success led to protests at Austrian embassies across Europe and large demonstrations in Vienna which left more than 50 people injured. Concern has been expressed at governmental level and some MEPs have refused to attend meetings with far-right representatives or have walked out in protest. The Portuguese presidency of the EU issued a statement, agreed somewhat relecutantly by some EU governments, stating that:
"- Governments of XIV Member States will not promote or accept any bilateral official contacts at political level with an Austrian government integrating the FPO;
- there will be no support in favour of Austrian candidates seeking positions in international organisations;
- Austrian Ambassadors in EU capitals will only be received at a technical level"
However, even these limited sanctions created division over how the EU will implement its plan to sever bilateral relations. An invitation to Austria to join an informal meeting of social affairs ministers at Lisbon in February provoked protests from Belgium and threats of a boycott by France. Haider, who has pointed to the similarity between the FPO's policies on issues such as immigration and the UK government's policies, has called for Tony Blair to act as a "peacemaker" between Austria and the European Union. His resignation, however, suggests he will strengthen his base while biding his time