Haider in Dublin Thurs 10/4/03

national | miscellaneous | news report Thursday April 10, 2003 14:05 by von

Jorg Haider, the far-right Austrian politician and leader of the coalition 'Freedom Party', will take part in TCD Phil Soc debate tonight on future of Europe.

Jorg Haider has been active in Austrian politics for many years and is known for his extreme racist and anti-immigrant views. He has expressed admiration for Hitler's policies and been associated with several far-right individuals and groups, even defending the honour of Nazi SS troops in his speeches.

Following unprecedented success in the Austrian general elections in 1999 with 27 percent of the vote, the ironically-named Freedom Party (FP) formed a coalition with the christian-democratic People's Party (VP) in February 2000. Uproar ensued throughout Europe with several countries practically breaking off relations with their EU neighbour. This led Haider to 'step down' as party leader, returning to his home province of Carinthia to resume his career as governor there. However, he continued to exert a leading influence on the party in government.

In 2002 the FP brought down the coalition government following internal leadership wrangles - which eventually led to Haider regaining leadership of the party. The ensuing elections saw the FP's vote drastically reduced to less than 10 percent. The collapse is due to Austrian disillusionment with the party's failure to perform in government - and also to the fact that their coalition partners, the VP, have 'absorbed' some of their policies marketed them as their own.

However, the VP's post-election negotiations with other potential partners led nowhere and the coalition reformed, despite dissent in the VP. There are now calls for the VP to drop the Freedom Party infavour of analliance with the Greens.

Trinity College Philosophical Society has invited Mr Haider to debate on the issue of the future of Europe.

For further reading:
http://www.online.ie/news/latest_irish/viewer.adp?article=1988839
http://www.guardian.co.uk/austria
http://www.adl.org/presrele/asint_13/2624_13.asp
http://www.rte.ie/news/2000/0201/austria.html