First victim of Austria's new era is journalist
By Frederick Baker and Imre Karacs in Vienna
A prominent Austrian journalist who is fiercely critical of the country's far-right leader Jörg Haider has has become one of the first victims of the new political realities sweeping across the country.
Gerhard Marschall 47, a journalist at the leading índependent regional paper Oberösterreichische Nachrichten, was given his notice on Friday, the day that the new Austrian government was sworn in. He told The Independent that the editor and the paper's owner said that "my commentaries and style where not liked" and "due to the new political situation I could no longer be afforded".
The editor Hans Köppl said that there had been 500 subscription cancellations and "massive expressions of displeasure" with Mr Marschall's columns. "A paper lives from its readers and their satisfaction. Marschall's style was insulting for many of them ... Something has to be done about it. I admit that it doesn't look very good".
SOS-Mitmensch, the Austrian human rights group that organised the first demonstrations against the new government, called Marschall's case "the first breach of the preamble to the government's programme". The preamble was the declaration that the new government would respect human rights, which President Thomas Klestil forced Jörg Haider and Wolfgang Schüssel to sign before they were sworn in. SOS-Mitmensch called for Marschall's reinstatement, saying "the freedom of press and freedom of expression is a human right".
Meanwhile, the demonstrations in the capital grew placid and were petering out yesterday. Austrians have accepted that a government including Mr Haider's Freedom Party is here to stay.
Some of the first consequences of the country's pariah status are making themselves felt. An international congress of orthodox rabbis, planned to take place in March in Vienna, will now be held in the Slovak capital Bratislava instead. The famous Opera Ball, the highlight of the social season, has also been dealt a crippling blow. This was the year when it went in search of its old-world charm and ditched the fading Hollywood stars, usually paid handsomely to grace the event. To keep the international favour, Portugal's President Jorge Sampaio was to be guest of honour on 2 March. But he has cancelled - EU state visits are off.
This is just a foretaste of things to come, as Austrians themselves realise. A poll in yesterday's Format magazine finds that two thirds of Austrians expect their country's economy to be damaged by the political fall-out.
The man responsible for Austria's sudden image problem is not helping. Trying to be conciliatory yesterday, Mr Haider promised in the same breath to compensate Holocaust survivors, Sudeten Germans and Austrian prisoners of war.
Despite everything he has said and been forced to retract, he still seems to think that Jews and Austrian soldiers in the Wehrmacht were victims of equal rank.
And he is still playing his divisive politics, looking for scapegoats. His latest targets are the outgoing Social Democrat Chancellor, Viktor Klima and President Klestil, whom he accused of organising the EU sanctions in an attempt to keep his party out of power. He threatened them with parliamentary inquiry for "political high treason," yesterday if evidence emerged that either had orchestrated the EU campaign to stop his party from entering power.