Shaky Coalition in Austria May Give Far-Right Party an Opening

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/15/world/europe/austria-freedom-party.html

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BERLIN — Nearly six months after Austria averted a swing to the right by rejecting an extremist candidate for president, the country appeared poised to clear a path for the far-right Freedom Party to enter into power as the current government teetered on the verge of collapse.

Austrians were not scheduled to elect a new Parliament until September 2018, but after months of bickering, the leaders of the two parties in the current governing coalition met with the president on Monday to seek a date for an election.

The move is expected to open the door for the Freedom Party to enter into government for the second time since it was formed by former Nazis in the 1950s, given its current popularity ahead of either traditional party in opinion polls.

Such a turn would signal that the populist movements and extremist parties in Europe are certainly not dead yet, even after being turned back by voters this year in the Netherlands and France, as well as in Austria last year.

Christian Kern, the current chancellor and leader of the governing center-left Social Democrats, and the newly elected head of the center-right People’s Party, Sebastian Kurz, agreed to continue their strained alliance until a date for the election is set.

“The interest of Austria as a whole must always, I stress always, stand above party tactics,” Alexander Van der Bellen, president of Austria, said on Monday. “The population and I expect clarity as quickly as possible.”

Austrians elected Mr. Van der Bellen as president last year after a long and bitter campaign against Norbert Hofer, a young rising star of the Freedom Party.

That party’s potential entry into government would, in large part, reverse that setback for the far right. It also comes as Austria appears to be settling down after the arrival of tens of thousands of migrants in Europe in 2015.

The economy has been on the rise in recent months, with the European Commission predicting growth of 1.7 percent into next year with unemployment projected to dip below 6 percent.

Mr. Kurz insisted he was seeking a “brief, intense” election campaign that would take place over the summer, with elections in the fall, possibly October.

Since the end of World War II, most of Austria’s governments have been a coalition of the two main left and right parties, an arrangement credited by many for creating harmony in the republic. Others have criticized it for paving the way for cronyism and an ossified system of politics.

In recent years, the Freedom Party portrayed itself as a fresh, outside force. That has helped propel the party’s support ahead of both its traditional rivals, opinion polls show.

But they also show Mr. Kurz enjoying the support of roughly 50 percent of all Austrians, more than double that for the Freedom Party leader, Heinz-Christian Strache.

Early elections have to be approved by all members of Parliament and the opposition. Mr. Strache told reporters on Monday that his party would support balloting in mid- or late October. “We want to ensure the chaos is eased,” he said. “Swift elections will lead to orderly circumstances.”

Mr. Strache’s party is currently the third-strongest in the national Parliament. A new round of voting could leave it poised to enter into government for the first time since 1999.

“It appears hard to imagine that the two could form a joint coalition after a hard campaign,” wrote Alexandra Föderl-Schmid in an editorial for the Viennese daily Der Standard. “For both the People’s Party, as well as for the Social Democrats, the Freedom Party remains the only coalition partner.”

The current political crisis started last Wednesday, when the vice chancellor and previous leader of People’s Party, offered his resignation.

That opened the door to Mr. Kurz, the 30-year-old foreign minister, to swiftly move to translate his growing popularity into power by offering to take over leadership of the flagging center-right party in exchange for a series of demands.

Among them were the consolidation of hiring and decision-making powers for the new leader and the right to refashion itself into a movement bearing his name.

“We are starting a new movement that is based on the proven powers of the People’s Party and at the same time attracts new people,” Mr. Kurz said in a statement after his election on Sunday.

His new movement, “List Sebastian Kurz, the New People’s Party,” appeared to have adopted the statement as a motto for its campaign on social media, which it wasted no time rolling out. On Monday, less than 24 hours after his election, anyone calling up the People’s Party website was redirected to a landing page for the new movement asking users, “Can Sebastian Kurz count on your support?”