AUSTRIA: Austria's controversial, right-wing government has collapsed following infighting within Dr Jörg Haider's Freedom Party. The Chancellor, Dr Wolfgang Schüssel, said yesterday he would seek new elections after half of the far-right Freedom Party's ministers resigned.
The ministers, who included the vice-chancellor, Ms Susanne Riess-Passer, and the Finance Minister, Mr Karl-Heinz Grasser, stepped down after they lost an internal power struggle with Dr Haider. Calling for fresh elections, which are likely to be held on November 24th, Dr Schüssel condemned Dr Haider for precipitating the coalition's fall.
"This government was toppled by factions in the Freedom Party, much to my displeasure. Haider is the one who crafted this coalition pact with me. I would have expected that he would have defended it tooth and nail," he said.
Dr Haider, who handed over the Freedom Party leadership to Ms Riess-Passer two years ago, turned on his party's three leading ministers when they agreed to postpone a planned tax cut in order to compensate victims of last month's floods. When a meeting of the party's leadership backed Dr Haider's demand for the decision to be reversed, the three ministers stepped down.
"The Freedom Party at the moment does not have the reliability and ability to carry through on decisions that one can justifiably expect from a governing party," Dr Schüssel said yesterday.
Dr Schüssel's decision two-and-a-half years ago to invite the Freedom Party to form a coalition with his conservative People's Party plunged Austria into diplomatic isolation. For six months, other EU governments refused to have high-level contacts with the new government, although Dr Haider was not a member of it.
Dr Haider, who transformed the Freedom Party's fortunes during the late 1980s and 1990s, achieved notoriety with remarks judged to be sympathetic to Hitler. A few weeks ago, he seemed on the verge of retiring from active politics but he now looks set to lead his party into the forthcoming election.
Dr Schüssel's resignation is a blow to the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, who enjoys warm relations with the Austrian chancellor. Ireland was among the EU governments most sympathetic to Austria during the EU boycott, and Dr Schüssel and Mr Ahern are ideological soul mates on the European centre-right.
Opinion polls put the opposition Social Democrats and Greens ahead of the outgoing coalition, with the Freedom Party commanding support from just 20 per cent of voters.
Dr Haider has watched with frustration as his party's vote fell with each month it stayed in government. He is likely to campaign on a populist platform demanding tax cuts for low earners and opposing EU enlargement.
At 52, the handsome, permanently tanned Dr Haider remains one of Austria's most formidable political campaigners. But Vienna's former mayor, Mr Herbert Zilk, argues that the right-winger's political talents are accompanied by serious personality flaws. "Despite his high intelligence, there predominates in him the childish truculence of one who never feels sufficiently loved, respected or cherished. It reminds me of political bed-wetting," he said.
Dr Schüssel paid tribute yesterday to Ms Riess-Passer and Mr Grasser, one of Austria's most popular politicians. But with Dr Haider back in control of the Freedom Party, the two ministers' political careers are almost certainly over.
The right-wing coalition, Austria's first in 30 years without the participation of the Social Democrats, promised to balance the budget, reform the labour market and overhaul the tax system. But few promises have been fulfilled during its time in power.
The Social Democrats and Greens have both ruled out forming a coalition with the Freedom Party. The chancellor declined to rule out a new coalition with the Freedom Party but most observers believe that, after two and a half years, Austria's experiment with the far-right in government is well and truly over..
