16.10.2008
October 06, 2008 (the date of publication in Russian)
Ruslan Kostyuk
THE RIGHT-WING MARCH IN THE ALPINE BELT
In Austria and Switzerland one-third of voters support radical nationalists, longing to "close" their countries for immigrants
During parliamentary election campaign really politically incorrect graffiti appeared on the buildings walls in many residential districts of Vienna and in some other large Austrian cities. They were "Austria for Austrians", "Moslems leave Austria!", "Stop creeping islamizaton" and etc. These actions of unidentified persons became, to some degree, an "indicator" of public opinion. And it was confirmed by the results of pre-term parliamentary elections.
The political force, which ideology is based on the populist far-right principles, enlisted the support of almost 30% of active Austrian electorate for the second time already. The results that were achieved by the Freedom Party of Austria (18% of votes) and the Alliance for Austria's Future (11%) have definitely shocked the European political establishment. But it seems that in Austria the very results are accepted as proper and worthy.
After all, the Freedom Party, headed by Joerg Haider, has already shown almost the same result on the elections in 1999, so "system conservators" from the People's Party had to form a coalition government with national radicals. That's why Austria turned into the "outcast country" for a time, and the EU imposed sanctions over it, which were in force for some months.
It is worth to mention, that the results of Austrian elections can't be viewed without taking into account the events of the other Alpine country – Switzerland. Nationalists showed a record percentage of votes there – 28.8%. That's only a few tenths per cent less, that in Austria.
The economical questions like the fall of GDP growth rate, the stagnation of purchasing capacity of Austrian households, rising consumer prices, the crisis of national air carrier were not the only things discussed during the election campaign. The problems of the influx of immigrants, especially from the Islamic world, played also one of the leading parts in the discussion. The amount of immigrants in many Austrian regions comes to one fifth of inhabitants, Vienna became a cosmopolitan center with "Moslem taste" long ago, and even the mother-in-law's nurse of Wolfgang Shussel (the leader of the People's Party) is said to live in Austria illegally. Understandably, most immigrants toil for Austrian capital, but the problems of juvenile delinquency, unemployment and obstacles to good education are especially actual among the natives of the East, Turkey, Bosnia and Kosovo.
Nationalistic and anti-immigrant attitudes were definitely "thrown into ballot-boxes". Almost 30% of votes given to the parties, which urge to create a Ministry of Repatriation of Immigrants, to obtain the prohibition of wearing Moslem clothes, to reduce the number of mosques in the country and to introduce drastic quotas to immigration for work, is a bit too much.
However, it wasn't only the immigration topic that helped right populists to reappear and to realize a tremendous electoral success. The Social Democratic Party (SPO) and the People's Party (OVP) were locked in an uneasy governing coalition for about two years, and this government wasn't definitely liked by those who voted for it. Both first-rate parties of Austria have lost the votes: SPO got less than 30%, OVP (the national party with the Christian-democratic doctrine) – a bit more than 25.5%. And there was a time, when the parties had 80% of votes! Constant squabbles in coalition government, personal battles between party leaders, unpopularity of key ministers, and the main issue – real social and economical stagnation – couldn't but adversely affect the strength of political positions of ruling parties. And there are not so many ideas and proposals to choose from: analysts can't see any strategic, fundamental differences in the approaches of both parties to this issue. Of course, Social Democrats place emphasize on social problems (calls to abolish tuition fees for higher education, to increase unemployment benefits and welfare payments for families with low income). But nevertheless, SPO and OVP can hardly be identified as antipode parties. That's what "Big coalition" in Germany should think about! It has no right-wing rivals, but left-wing, green and liberals will not give up their chances…
The collapse of the governing coalition, which caused pre-term federal elections, of course was neither an accident, nor the result of personal fight between two party leaders. The questions of reforming public health service, educational and pension system, taxes, and addressing a complicated immigration problem separated Social Democrats and People's Party members more and more. But it couldn't be said the same about foreign policy, even though it's known that many OVP members doubt in Austrian neutrality and want the country to join NATO, whereas the center-left from SPO increasingly criticize some forms of EU integration processes (in particular, they condemn Turkey's plans to join the EU).
In general, serious debates about the creation of a new governmental coalition are to take place in Vienna. It can become "red-black" again (the renewal of SPO and OVP alliance), or, as it has already been in the very beginning of 2000, "black-black" (if one of right populist parties joins OVP). Now everything depends on "personal factor" and the propensity to compromise of three first-rate party leaders: Werner Fraymann (from SPO), Wilhelm Molterer (from OVP) and Heinz-Christian Strache (from the Freedom Party). It's clear anyway, that two of three mentioned parties will be included into the new government of Austria.
Editorial Afterword
After this article was published on Russian-language version of our site the news came from world media about the death of the Austrian Freedom Party leader Joerg Haider in a car accident. Some analysts express the consideration that Haider's death may result in even greater inspiration of his supporters and increase the influence of the radical right-wing mood in the society due to possible speculations about the "conspiracy" against Haider and the subsequent mythologization of his image. So, even a dead Haider may continue to be an important factor in the European political landscape.
RPMonitor Editorial Board
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