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hostility of the fourteen EU members, but for tactical reasons: he wanted
to distance himself from a muddled and inefficient government to sustain
his ambitions of eventually becoming head of the federal government.
And even after this formal resignation, he has continued to call the shots
in his party and direct those who represent it in the government.
The direct effect on the voters of the reaction by the EU members to
Austria is ambivalent. Many Austrians resent what they perceive as
unwarranted interference of foreign countries, which is bound to
strengthen the position of the government. But others-as the two hun–
dred thousand demonstrators proved in the inner city of Vienna on Feb–
ruary 18-welcome what they see as the moral foreign support by the
EU in their fight against this government.
What are the motives that prompted this strong and highly unusual
action of the European Union countries? After all, the Freedom Party
was democratically elected-and so far has observed all the rules of
democracy. Is it a "neo-Nazi" party? Does it propagate the policies that
were once those of Hitler? Does it mobilize its voters with an open invi–
tation to challenge and overthrow the democratic regime? Evidently
not. Otherwise, the Austrian courts would have already banned this
party.
On the other hand, aren't there several European parties with agendas
similar to the one of the FPO? They too wish to limit or even halt fur–
ther immigration. The center-left coalition government in Denmark has,
for example, decided on drastic measures to restrict immigration, much
more far-reaching than those demanded by Austria's FPO. Also, many
conservative European parties are strongly in favor of "law and order,"
and wish the process of European integration to stop where it stands.
Even the FPO's roots in a nondemocratic past are not unique, as demon–
strated by the former Italian fascists or the Communist parties of Italy
and France. Why then this turmoil over the FPO? Answers must remain
tentative, since a clear cause-effect relationship in the realm of human
affairs is difficult to establish. Three explanations seem plausible:
1.
The Freedom Party poses a more serious challenge to democratic
Europe, one more acute and fundamental than other populist, right–
wing parties.
2. Austria has a special history, and thus a special responsibility. In
context of this history, the anguish about the Freedom Party gains its
legitimacy and credibility.
3. A peculiar political situation prevails in Europe that makes the
reaction of the EU countries not only possible but plausible.
