Austria: Haider celebrates EU's "humiliation"
01 September 2000
The European Union lifted its diplomatic sanctions on Austria in September, seven months after they were introduced. The U-turn was widely expected once a special committee of "three wise men", set up to examine Austria's human rights record and the role of the far-right Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs (FPÖ, Freedom Party) in July, called for the sanctions to be lifted. The measures had been introduced after the conservative Österreichische Volkespartei (OVP, Austrian People's Party) entered into a coalition government with the FPÖ last February. The Austrian chancellor, Wolfgang Schussel, welcomed the about turn, claiming that it was "...a great success for Austria resulting from our patience and firmness".
Since 1986, when Jorg Haider took over the leadership of the FPÖ, he has steered it in an increasingly fascist direction, both in ideology and personnel. The introduction of right-wing and nazi elements ensured that the party espoused racist policies, blaming unemployment, health problems and falling educational standards on immigration while advocating the targeting of illegal immigrants and discriminating against those who do not speak German. Haider's calculated references to national socialism appeal to both hardcore nazis and those disaffected by the mainstream parties. While Haider has not taken a position in the government he remains governor of Carinthia, and exerts a powerful influence over the FPÖ having reorganised it to ensure unswerving loyalty. He described the EU's climbdown as "humiliating".
The appointment of a committee, comprising the former Finish president Martti Ahtisaari, the former Spanish foreign minister Marcelino Oreja and German legal expert Jochen Frowein, by the European Union to report on "the Austrian Government's commitment to the common European values, in particular concerning the rights of minorities, refugees and immigrants" and "the evolution of the political nature of the FPO". Their report, published on 8 September, recommended the lifting of sanctions because they were "counterproductive" (p33) and praised Austria's treatment of "minorities", including migrants.
However, their conclusions flew in the face of reports published by Amnesty International which found that: "The Austrian authorities continue to ignore serious incidents of police brutality and have failed to end the ill-treatment of detainees..." Amnesty cites several cases of brutality against asylum-seekers and other forms of racism, including that of Nigerian asylum-seeker, Marcus Omofuma (see Statewatch vol 9 nos 3/4), who died after being "bound like a mummy" with adhesive tape during his deportation from Vienna airport. In another report Amnesty cited cases of "police ill-treatment" against youths from Turkey (Goekhan Canpolat and his cousin Erdem) as well as violence against anti-racist protesters. As an example of arbitrary detention they refer to a police drugs raid on a residence for asylum-seekers in Traiskirchen in January. While only small quantities of drugs were recovered 80 residents were confined to certain areas of the building while others were subjected to internal body searches in front of other residents.
On the process of redress, Amnesty concludes that:
"...investigations into police ill-treatment have been slow, lacking in thoroughness and often inconclusive. In the 1998-1999 period not only have there been very few perpetrators of human rights violations been brought to justice, but counter-charges such as resisting arrest, physical assault or defamation have often been brought against detainees who lodged complaints of ill-treatment against police officers."
The committee obviously felt on safer ground when dealing with Haider's FPÖ which, because it remains in government, caused them "concern". Accepting descriptions of the organisation as a "right wing populist party with extremist expressions" they also expressed concerns over the "typical phenomenon" of "am