The wrong decision for the right reasons

Date: 03/02/2000

Austrian conservative leader Wolfgang Schüssel's decision to form a coalition government with an extreme-right party whose leader has called Nazi SS guards 'heroes' and praised Hitler's employment policies has rightly provoked a storm of protest across the world.

Once it became clear last week that Schüssel was prepared to join forces with Jörg Haider's Freedom Party to win power, EU governments understandably began casting around for ways to register their deep concern at the poisonous rise of far-right parties on the European political scene. This is a particular cause of concern for the French and Belgian governments, which are fighting to combat growing popular support for extremist parties in the run-up to elections due to be held in the next 12 months.

But the strategy they adopted - of threatening to isolate Austria by freezing bilateral political relations and downgrading diplomatic contacts to a technical level if Haider's party joined the government - is surely misguided and more likely than not to backfire.

Not only did it fail to deter Schüssel from striking a coalition deal with the Freedom Party but there is also a serious danger that, far from reducing support for extreme right parties, it will have the opposite effect, boosting Haider's popularity because of widespread public anger over what many ordinary Austrians see as an attempt by EU governments to meddle in the domestic political affairs of a sovereign country. However understandable the motives of Austria's Union partners are, this sets a dangerous precedent. The action taken by EU governments is driven by their determination to protect the democratic values which underpin the Union, but, as Austrian President Thomas Klestil said this week: "In a democracy, a parliamentary majority has to be respected." Finnish Finance Minister Sauli Ninnistö summed up the dangers inherent in the EU's approach, asking: "What path are we taking if we install a judge above nations to rule whether people's opinions are right or wrong?"

Union governments are right to take a stand. But a more cool-headed approach would surely have been wiser. Instead of saying that they would take action immediately if the Freedom Party joined the government, they should instead have warned Schüssel and Haider that any breach of the EU's fundamental principles once in office would trigger sanctions. This would have made the Union's determination to force member states to abide by the rules of the club clear, without sparking accusations that it was meddling in domestic politics.

The approach which EU governments have taken risks undermining the very democratic values which they are seeking to defend.