Freedom Party of Austria

The Freedom Party of Austria (German: Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, FPÖ) is a far-right political party in Austria that has come to overtake the more moderate center-right ÖVP (Austrian People's Party) as Austria's dominant right-wing faction. Initially founded as a centrist party, under the influence of Jörg Haider, the party was very quickly taken over by wingnuts and borderline neo-Nazis. It came dangerously close to winning the Austrian presidency in 2016, winning over a third of the vote in the first round, and losing the annulled second round by 0.6% (a re-run widened the margin to 7.6%).[1][2] The party dominated the province of Carinthia.

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The party has strong links with several Austrian traditional student fraternities (with 18 of 51 MPs being active members) that happen to be tendentially very right wing, strongly nationalist, and in favour of pan-German irredentism; they also have a strong history of anti-feminism and a fondness for Nazi Germany.[3]

History

Pre-Haider era (1956-1986)

The FPÖ was founded on April 7, 1956, by former Nazi Minister of Agriculture in Arthur Seyss-Inquart's Anschluss cabinet and SS-Brigadeführer Anton Reinthaller. He died in 1957 and was replaced by Friedrich Peter, a former Nazi and SS-Obersturmführer, who moved the party to the center, expelling the far-right in the process.[note 1] This culminated in the far-right finally leaving and founding their own party in 1967. The party officially joined Liberal International in 1978. However, the party never got more than 8% of the national vote. Peter stepped down in 1978.

Norbert Steger became the new party leader in 1980, firmly establishing its role as a centrist party. It entered a coalition with the SPÖ (Social Democratic Party of Austria) in 1983 because the SPÖ lost its absolute majority. In the same year, Haider began his rise to power by gaining control of the Carinthian branch of the party, beginning its descent into the far-right. In 1986, Haider won control of the party nationwide. While its support increased, the liberal influence waned because of this.

Haider era (1986-2000)

Haider had successfully taken control of the FPÖ. As the party surged in the polls as a result of this, the party become increasingly right-wing. It broke ties with the SPÖ and quickly formed ties with the centre-right ÖVP as it came to surpass it in Carinthia. The party moved to xenophobia, jingoism, and Euroscepticism, throwing out all Peter's achievements, and leaving Liberal International. The classical liberal faction was expelled as the party became increasingly far-right. In 1999, it won a coalition government with the more moderate ÖVP.

Post-Haider era (2000-)

Internal tensions emerged within the FPÖ, culminating in the offshoot party BZÖ being founded in 2005. Haider left with them. The FPÖ turned out way more stable following the split, as the FPÖ did better than the BZÖ everywhere but Carinthia.[note 2] In 2009, the Carinthian chapter of the BZÖ broke off from the party and cooperated with the FPÖ. The FPÖ gained over one-fourth of the national vote in 2009, a success unseen since 1996. The party now has 42% support amongst those under 30, and they came disturbingly close to winning the presidency in 2016.

In December 2017, FPÖ became part of a governing coalition along with the moderate conservative People's Party, making Austria the only Western European country being governed by a far-right party.[4][5]

The FPÖ signed a formal cooperation agreement with Vladimir Putin's United Russia party in December 2016, and began informal relations with Trump transition team at about the same time.[6] In 2018, with the FPÖ in control of government, the police raided Austria's own domestic intelligence agency on the absurd pretext of defending North Korea from Austrian espionage; the consequence of this is that other European intelligence agencies have stopped sharing information with Austria.[7]

In 2019, a scandal rocked the FPÖ and brought an end to the governing coalition, causing a snap election in which the FPÖ vote fell sharply. The People's Party looked to the other side of politics for its new coalition partner, forming government along with the Austrian Greens instead.[8]

Notes

1. We're serious.
2. Haider dominated politics there.

References

1. Austria rejects far-right candidate Norbert Hofer in presidential election, The Guardian, 4 Dec 2016
2. See the Wikipedia article on Austrian presidential election, 2016.
3. Austria’s far-right fraternities brace for protests at annual ball, The Guardian, 25 Jan 2018
4. New Austrian Government Will Have A Far-Right Tilt by Miles Parks (December 16, 201711:45 AM ET) NPR: the two-way.
5. Austrian president approves far-right Freedom party joining coalition government, The Guardian, 16 Dec 2017
6. Austrian far right signs deal with Putin's party, touts Trump ties (December 19, 2016) Reuters.
7. Austria’s far-right government ordered a raid on its own intelligence service. Now allies are freezing the country out. by Souad Mekhennet (August 17, 2018 at 6:27 PM) The Washington Post.
8. Austria backs green agenda with new coalition deal. BBC News, January 2, 2020.

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