Haider seems the big winner in Austrian political deadlock

[Ulhas Joglekar]

23 January 2000
Haider seems the big winner in Austrian political deadlock
VIENNA: This week's collapse of coalition talks between Austria's ruling
parties has left one big winner - a far-rightwing leader who once praised
some of Adolf Hitler's policies.
A growing number of Austrians believe it is just a matter of time before
Joerg Haider, an outspoken opponent of immigration and European Union
expansion, enters the government - perhaps as chancellor.
It is a perception in neighboring countries too.
"All roads lead to Haider," the Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger said in
Saturday's edition. "Through all the confusion surrounding the formation of
a government in Austria, a winner stands clear now: Joerg Haider."
Haider's Freedom Party finished second in the October 3 parliamentary
election, behind the Social Democrats of Chancellor Viktor Klima and
marginally ahead of the center-right Austrian Peoples Party, the junior
coalition partner for 13 years.
Differences over who should be the new finance minister and whether trade
unions also should sign the coalition pact ultimately prevented the partners
from agreeing on a new pact.
The talks collapsed early Friday. President Thomas Klestil has asked Klima
to try to win tacit support for a minority government, and to report back
within a week.
Austria's only postwar minority government lasted only 18 months, and most
political analysts doubt a new one would fare better. The country's business
community fears a weak minority government would lead to confusion in the
nation's economic program, and would prefer a strong government, even if it
meant accepting Haider.
Klestil, a former diplomat, is particularly alarmed about what a Freedom
Party government would do to the country's image. Israel has threatened to
break diplomatic relations with Austria if the Freedom Party enters the
government.
Haider has even managed to creep into the New York State Senate race between
first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
At a news conference Wednesday, former Mayor Ed Koch, a Clinton supporter,
blasted Giuliani for attending the same Martin Luther King Day dinner as
Haider, who was invited by the Congress of Racial Equality.
"Is that a place to celebrate Martin Luther King Day, to be on the same dais
as the leader of the neo-Nazi Party in Austria?" Koch said.
"Why didn't he denounce Joerg Haider? Why didn't he order Joerg Haider out
of the hall?" Klestil's efforts to spare the country embarrassment have
drawn fire from those who maintain that, like it or not, choosing a
government is the peoples' business and not that of the largely ceremonial
president.
"It was a Black Friday for Austria when President Klestil asked Viktor Klima
to form a minority government," the Vienna newspaper Die Presse said. "And
the motive of Thomas Klestil was not the interest of the country but instead
were based on personal resentment."
Haider gained international notoriety a decade ago by praising Hitler's
employment policies, and later for lauding veterans of the Waffen SS as "men
of honor." Those comments have dogged him ever since, though he has
apologized.
During last year's election campaign, the Freedom Party printed posters
warning of "Ueberfremdung," or "over-foreignization," a term also used by
the Nazis in calling for a pure German race.
Haider blamed an overzealous local party leader for the posters.
Nevertheless, Haider's warnings of job loss to immigration and EU expansion
has struck a responsive chord among young working class men, who
traditionally vote Social Democrat.
Despite opposition by foreigners and establishment figures, many Austrians
believe Haider has earned the right to power, and that political maneuvering
to block him borders on being undemocratic.
As a populist, Haider also railed against the bureaucracy, high taxes and
"cronyism," in which party affiliation plays a role in civil service jobs
and, to a lesser extent, in access to cheap housing. (AP)
For reprint rights: Times Syndication Service
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