Political background
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Further information: German nationalism in Austria
The FPÖ is a descendant of the pan-German[24] and national liberal camp (Lager) dating back to the Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas.[25] During the interwar era, the national liberal camp (gathered in the Greater German People’s Party)[26] fought against the mutually hostile Christian Social and Marxist camps in their struggles to structure the new republic according to their respective ideologies.[27] After a short civil war, the Fatherland Front established the Federal State of Austria, an Austrofascist dictatorship, in 1934.[27] By 1938, with the Anschluss of Austria into Nazi Germany, the national liberal camp (which had always striven for an inclusion of Austria into a Greater Germany) had been swallowed whole by Austrian National Socialism, and all other parties were eventually absorbed into Nazi totalitarianism.[27] Both Socialists and Christian Socials were persecuted under the Nazi regime, and the national liberal camp was scarred after the war due to guilt by association with National Socialism.[27]
In 1949, the Federation of Independents (VdU) was founded as a national liberal alternative to the main Austrian parties—the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) and the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP),[17] successors to the interwar-era Marxist and Christian Social parties.[27] The VdU was founded by two liberal Salzburg journalists—former prisoners of Nazi Germany—who wanted to stay clear of the mainstream socialist and Catholic camps and feared that hostility following the hastily devised postwar denazification policy (which did not distinguish between party members and actual war criminals) might stimulate a revival of Nazism.[27][28] Aiming to become a political home to everyone not a member of the two main parties, the VdU incorporated an array of political movements—including free-market liberals, populists, former Nazis and German nationalists, all of whom had been unable to join either of the two main parties.[17][29][30] The VdU won 12% of the vote in the 1949 general election, but saw its support begin to decline soon afterward. It evolved into the FPÖ by 1955/56 after merging with the minor Freedom Party in 1955;[31] a new party was formed on 17 October 1955, and its founding congress was held on 7 April 1956.[32][33]
Early years (1956–1980)
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The first FPÖ party leader was Anton Reinthaller, a former Nazi Minister of Agriculture and SS officer.[34] He had been asked by ÖVP Chancellor Julius Raab to take over the movement rather than let it be led by a more socialist-leaning group.[16] While the majority of former Nazis had probably joined the two main parties in absolute numbers, they formed a greater percentage of FPÖ members due to the party’s small size.[16] Nevertheless, none of them were real revolutionaries and they pursued pragmatic, non-ideological policies, and the FPÖ presented itself as a moderate party.[16] The FPÖ served as a vehicle for them to integrate in the Second Republic; the party was a welcome partner with both the SPÖ and ÖVP in regional and local politics, although it was excluded at the national level.[16][35] The ÖVP and the FPÖ ran a joint candidate for the 1957 presidential election, who lost.[16]
Reinthaller was replaced as leader in 1958 by Friedrich Peter (also a former SS officer), who led the party through the 1960s and 1970s and moved it towards the political centre.[18] In 1966, the ÖVP–SPÖ Grand Coalition, which had governed Austria since the war was broken, was ended when the ÖVP gained enough votes to govern alone. SPÖ leader Bruno Kreisky (himself a Jew) defended Peter’s past and initiated a political relationship—and a personal friendship—with Peter; in 1970 the FPÖ was, for the first time, able to tolerate an SPÖ minority government.[16][36] In 1967 the more extreme faction in the FPÖ broke away and established the National Democratic Party, seen by some observers as a final shedding of the party’s Nazi legacy.[37] Under the influence of Kreisky, a new generation of liberals brought the FPÖ into the Liberal International in 1978.[38][36] During the years under Peter the party never won more than 8% of the national vote in general elections, and generally did not have much political significance.[17] It did, however, demand electoral reforms that benefitted smaller parties as the price for tolerating Kreisky’s minority government.[citation needed]
Steger leadership (1980–1986)
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Liberal Norbert Steger was chosen as new FPÖ party leader in 1980; in an effort to gain popularity, he helped the FPÖ become established as a moderate centrist liberal party.[17][18] His vision was to transform the FPÖ into an Austrian version of the German Free Democratic Party (FDP), focusing on free-market and anti-statist policies.[19] In the 1980s, the Austrian political system began to change; the dominance of the SPÖ and ÖVP started to erode, and the Austrian electorate began to swing to the right. SPÖ leader Bruno Kreisky had encouraged the FPÖ’s move to the centre, in order to establish an SPÖ-FPÖ alliance against the ÖVP. The 1983 general election was a watershed; the SPÖ lost its absolute majority in Parliament, which resulted in the formation of an SPÖ-FPÖ “Small Coalition”.[18] Ironically, the 1983 election result was the worst for the FPÖ in its history (it received slightly less than 5% of the vote), and during the next few years the party saw 2–3% support—or even less—in opinion polls. As a consequence, the party was soon torn by internal strife.[36][39]
In 1983, the right-wing Jörg Haider took over the leadership of the FPÖ’s significant Carinthia branch. Its importance dated to the Kärntner Abwehrkampf (Carinthian defensive struggle) following World War I, and subsequent anti-Slavic sentiment arising from a fear of being taken over by Yugoslavia.[18] Encouraged by the mass media, a struggle soon developed between Steger and Haider over the future of the party. In the 1985 Reder case, for instance, Haider staunchly supported FPÖ Minister of Defence Friedhelm Frischenschlager when the latter welcomed convicted Waffen-SS war criminal Walter Reder in person when Reder arrived at Graz Airport after his release from Italy.[18][40][note 1] While the FPÖ struggled with its low support at the national level in the mid-1980s, this was in sharp contrast to the party’s position in Haider’s Carinthia (where the party had increased its support from 11.7% in the 1979 provincial election to 16% in 1984).[18]
During the 1986 National Convention in Innsbruck, the internal struggle developed into an open conflict; this led Haider to victory as new FPÖ party leader with 58% of the vote, supported by conservative and pan-German factions.[17][18][36][41] However, incoming SPÖ Chancellor Franz Vranitzky—who also entered office in 1986—had strong negative feelings towards Haider, who he felt was too far-right. Vranitzky subsequently announced an election in 1986, in the process disbanding the SPÖ-FPÖ “Small Coalition” and, after the election, entered into a coalition with the ÖVP.[42] Under Haider’s leadership, the FPÖ increased its vote to 9.7%,[43] while the party gradually became more right-wing and its former liberal influence waned.[44] As the FPÖ increased its electoral support with Haider’s radical-populist rhetoric, the party reduced its chances of forming coalitions with other parties.[43]
Haider leadership (1986–2000)
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Further information: Jörg Haider
With Jörg Haider as the new party leader, the 1989 Carinthia provincial election caused a sensation; the SPÖ lost its majority and the ÖVP was relegated to third-party status, as the FPÖ finished second with 29% of the vote. The FPÖ formed a coalition with the ÖVP, with Haider as Governor of Carinthia (at this point his greatest political triumph).[43] By the 1990 general election the party had moved away from the liberal mainstream course, instead focusing on immigration and becoming increasingly critical of the political establishment and the EU.[44] Following a remark made by Haider in 1991 about the “decent employment policy” of Nazi Germany (in contrast to that of the current Austrian government),[note 2] he was removed as governor by a joint SPÖ-ÖVP initiative and replaced by the ÖVP’s Christof Zernatto. Later that year, however, the FPÖ saw gains made in three provincial elections (most notably in Vienna).[46]
While Haider often employed controversial rhetoric, his expressed political goals included small government with more direct democracy.[25] Following the increasing importance of immigration as a political issue, in 1993 the party decided to launch the “Austria First!” initiative (calling for a referendum on immigration issues). The initiative was controversial and five FPÖ MPs, including Heide Schmidt, left the party and founded the Liberal Forum (LiF). The FPÖ’s relations with the Liberal International also became increasingly strained, and later that year the FPÖ left the Li (which was preparing to expel it). In turn, the LiF soon joined the Liberal International instead.[47] In 1999, Haider was again elected Governor of Carinthia.[41]
Coalition government (2000–2005)
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In the 1999 general election the FPÖ won 27% of the votes, more than in any previous election—beating the ÖVP for the first time by a small margin. In February 2000, the ÖVP agreed to form a coalition government with the FPÖ.[48] Normally, Haider should have become federal chancellor. However, it soon became apparent that Haider was too controversial to be part of the government, let alone lead it. Amid intense international criticism of the FPÖ’s participation in the government, the FPÖ ceded the chancellorship to Wolfgang Schüssel of the ÖVP. As a concession to the FPÖ, the party was given the power to appoint the Ministers of Finance and Social Affairs.[44] Later that month Haider stepped down as party chairman, replaced by Susanne Riess-Passer.[49] Having threatened a diplomatic boycott of Austria, the other fourteen European Union (EU) countries introduced sanctions after the government had been formed; other than formal EU meetings, contacts with Austria were reduced. The measures were justified by the EU, which stated that “the admission of the FPÖ into a coalition government legitimises the extreme right in Europe.”[50]
The party had been kept on the sidelines for most of the Second Republic, except for its brief role in government in the 1980s. Along with the party’s origins and its focus on issues such as immigration and questions of identity and belonging, the party had been subjected to a strategy of cordon sanitaire by the SPÖ and ÖVP. The EU sanctions were lifted in September after a report had found that the measures were effective only in the short term; in the long run, they might give rise to an anti-EU backlash.[50] Some observers noted an inconsistency in that there had been no sanctions against Italy when the post-fascist Italian Social Movement/National Alliance had entered government in 1994.[51]
The FPÖ struggled with its shift from an anti-establishment party to being part of the government, which led to decreasing internal stability and electoral support. Its blue collar voters became unhappy with the party’s need to support some neo-liberal ÖVP economic reforms; the government’s peak in unpopularity occurred when tax reform was postponed at the same time that the government was planning to purchase new interceptor jets. Internecine strife erupted in the party over strategy between party members in government and Haider, who allied himself with the party’s grassroots. Several prominent FPÖ government ministers resigned in the 2002 “Knittelfeld Putsch” after strong attacks by Haider, which led to new elections being called.[49][52]
In the subsequent election campaign, the party was deeply divided and unable to organise an effective political strategy. It changed leaders five times in less than two months, and in the 2002 general election decreased its share of the vote to 10.2%, almost two-thirds less than its previous share. Most of its voters sided with the ÖVP, which became the largest party in Austria with 43% of the vote. Nevertheless, the coalition government of the ÖVP and FPÖ was revived after the election; however, there was increasing criticism within the FPÖ against the party’s mission of winning elections at any cost.[53]
Haider’s departure for BZÖ
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After an internal row had threatened to tear the FPÖ apart, former chairman Jörg Haider, then-chairwoman and his sister Ursula Haubner, vice chancellor Hubert Gorbach and all of the FPÖ ministers left the party and on 4 April 2005 founded a new political party called the Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ).[54][55][56] Austria’s chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel followed, changing his coalition with the FPÖ into cooperation with the BZÖ.[57] In Haider’s stronghold of Carinthia, the local FPÖ branch became the Carinthia branch of the BZÖ.[56]
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