After a day spent licking his wounds, Mr Jorg Haider will have some explaining to do when he emerges today from his mountain outpost at Klagenfurt. In Sunday's municipal elections in Vienna, the far-right politician saw his party's share of the vote tumble by seven percentage points to just 20 per cent.
The results confirmed what opinion polls have suggested for almost a year - that a growing number of Austrians are unhappy about the presence of the far right in government.
Across the border in Germany, voters in the immensely prosperous state of Baden-Wurttemberg gave the far-right Republikaner an even bigger thumbs down. The party lost all its seats in the state parliament as its share of the vote fell by more than half.
The results will comfort opponents of racism and xenophobia, not least because the Viennese election campaign was marked by a succession of outbursts by Mr Haider that many interpreted as anti-Semitic.
They will also cheer those European politicians, especially in France and Belgium, who led the campaign to ostracise Austria's new government when it came to power last year.
This week's setbacks for the extreme right may, however, represent no more than a temporary lull before the ideological battle in Europe begins again in earnest. And the next cause for concern will not be in Austria or Germany but across the Alps in Italy.
The controversial Italian politician, Mr Silvio Berlusconi, is expected to become his country's prime minister after a general election on May 13th. Mr Berlusconi has been accused of corruption and of using his political career to advance his business interests.
Italy's partners are less concerned about Mr Berlusconi's record, however, than about his likely coalition allies - Mr Gianfranca Fini of the Alleanza Nazionale and Mr Umberto Bossi of Liga Nord.
Mr Fini's party grew out of the post-war fascist movement that was nostalgic for Mussolini but the party now espouses a nationalist, anti-immigration line that it has described as "post-fascist".
Under Mr Fini, the party's extremists have been sidelined and Alleanza Nazionale is part of the same group in the European Parliament as Fianna Fail.
If Mr Fini has moved towards the centre, Mr Bossi has done little to tone down his populist, hate-filled rhetoric in advance of the election. Although his Liga Nord has abandoned its demand that Northern Italy should be allowed to secede from the rest of the country, Mr Bossi's xenophobia and social intolerance remain intact.
Mr Bossi wants to curb immigration and halt the spread of Islam, which he believes to be a threat to Italian society. He has described homosexuals as pigs.
Belgium's Foreign Minister, Mr Louis Michel, suggested last month that, if Mr Berlusconi brings Mr Bossi into his government, Italy could be subject to sanctions similar to those imposed on Austria last year.
There is little appetite for a repeat of last year's action against Austria, which many EU governments believe to have been hasty and ill-thought-out.
Fianna Fail supporters in Brussels are gleeful about the prospect of a Berlusconi victory - and not only because their allies in the Alleanza Nazionale would be assured of a place in government.
With Social Democrats governing most EU member states, a conservative government in Italy could be an important ideological ally for the Government.
The Taoiseach may be able to offer Mr Berlusconi advice on how to handle the first big European problem he is likely to face - an EU reprimand over his plans to cut tax and boost public spending. Brussels has already warned Italy, which has the largest public debt in the EU, to keep a tighter rein on its public finances.
Mr Berlusconi says he will ignore any EU criticism of his plans, a position that could find more favour in Dublin than elsewhere in the EU. But before he gets too chummy with Mr Berlusconi, the Taoiseach might consider the meagre fruits of his last flirtation with a controversial European government.
When the sanctions against Austria were lifted last year, the Chancellor, Mr Wolfgang Schussel, was full of gratitude for Ireland's supportive stance and praised the Taoiseach's personal kindness towards him.
But when the first case of foot-and-mouth disease was confirmed in Ireland last week, Austria showed how deep its gratitude went - it banned all Irish meat and dairy imports immediately.
