VIENNA — Austria's government — a coalition of the conservative People's Party (VP) and the extreme right-wing, racist Freedom Party (FP) — is showing its true colours.
The FP managed to overtake the VP at last October's federal election by a small margin, to become the second strongest party in parliament after the social-democratic Socialist Party (SP). After three months of deliberations, the VP agreed to form government with the FP to stay in power and implement its neo-liberal program, appease big business and fulfill European Union regulations that require a reduced budget deficit and cuts to government spending.
The FP's connections with fascist groups are well-known and its leader, Jorg Haider, is on record making apologetic remarks about the Nazis.
While the FP's electoral performance and its invitation to participate in government shocked many, its success can partly be attributed to the 13-year coalition government between SP and the VP. Successive SP-VP governments failed to address social problems, introduced cuts to welfare spending and paved the way for the FP's racist and populist rhetoric by introducing some of the most inhuman and harshest immigration policies in Europe.
Austria's trade union peak body, the GB — a bureaucratic institution with a symbiotic link to the SP and removed from the interests of the rank and file members — aided the SP-VP government's ability to unleash creeping but painful attacks on the working class. The trade unions' lack of fight and opposition to strikes left the working class unprepared to defend itself against the major government-business offensive being prepared by the VP-FP government.
Anti-social austerity
The VP-FP coalition government signals a clear break with post-war Austrian politics. For the first time, Austria is ruled by a coalition of two openly bourgeois parties whose aim is the destruction of Austria's institutionalised Sozialpartnerschaft — the "social partnership" between government, business and trade unions. The end of the "welfare state" and attacks on the main gains of the working class are necessary for the government to push through its austerity program anti-social policies.
Riess-Passer, FP vice-chancellor, has announced plans to "reform" the "blown-out" public sector to curb government spending. Estimates are that 30,000 public sector workers will be sacked and a further 9000 jobs will disappear through redundancy and retirement.
The proposed budget cuts also imply reduced powers for the major "social partnership" institutions — an effort to weaken the position of workers and speed up privatisation of a plethora of industries.
The government is also planning to change industrial relations laws, replacing federal industry-based awards with a workplace-based enterprise bargaining system.
The VP-FP coalition has already changed legislation to raise the age for retirement and retrospectively done away with workers' rights to early retirement if they suffer from major illness. There is also discussion about the introduction of "work for the dole".
Public health facility fees have been increased to reduce state subsidisation of patients' stays in hospitals. Charges will apply for visits to hospital emergency departments and medication fees have also been raised.
Carrot and stick
The VP-FP is using "carrot and stick" tactics to make changes to maternity leave entitlements palatable to the population. The government is willing to invest millions of schillings to replace the current system of paid maternity leave based on income for a flat-rate payment scheme. At the same time, funds to projects for women to reenter the work force are being reduced and improvements to the chronic shortage of childcare facilities have been rejected. Clearly, the government wants families to absorb the costs.
Cuts to higher education sector will amount to around A$100 million and are coupled with less visible attacks such as reduced access to student scholarships, reduced staff and courses and post graduate projects. The government has also given public universities the right to "self-manage", reduced the powers of the education department, facilitates the introduction of student fees and is preparing for the privatisation of the sector.
The government has also shown that it will not hesitate to curb civil liberties. It has attacked freedom of speech and the press. Haider, former head of the FP and premier of the Austrian state of Karinthia, is urging the introduction of legislation to charge any Austrian politician with criminal conduct if he/she makes "anti-government and un-Austrian" statements.
At recent demonstrations, protesters have been harassed, beaten and arrested for unsubstantiated reasons. One protester faces charges for having made a pun out of the Austrian national anthem. Since the coalition government came to office, the police have become increasingly repressive and authoritarian. Three people have been shot by police in separate incidents.
Fourteen of the 15 EU member states, the United States and some other countries have decided to isolate Austria diplomatically over the FP's participation in government because the politics of the FP "contradict EU policies and endangers European integration processes". The sanctions are largely symbolic. They did not prevent Austria's participation in discussions on a united EU policy on asylum seekers based on further restricting refugees' access to "Fortress Europe".
The EU stance against the FP is contradictory, since EU member states have not previously condemned the participation of extreme right-wing parties in governments (for example, the National Alliance as part of the Italian government in 1994).
The EU's main concerns may be the FP and Haider's unpredictability and populist anti-EU rhetoric. The benefits of the EU currency, the Euro, have not lived up to expectations and any questioning by the FP of the currency could lead to a domino effect across Europe.
Some member states also fear destabilisation from a rise of extreme right-wing parties in their countries — in Belgium and France the far right is particularly strong.
However, despite EU governments' misgivings, it is becoming more evident that the VP-FP coalition is implementing policies in line with the EU's anti-worker guidelines.
Since the new government was formed, massive protests and demonstrations of up to 300,000 people have opposed the coalition. Currently, there are regular protests and demonstrations, particularly in Vienna, which attract around 3000-5000 people.
The trade unions have only participated haphazardly in the protests and no united mass actions or strikes have taken place or are planned. The GB has neither endorsed the protests nor distanced itself from them but left it to individual members to take part. A large demonstration is planned for the beginning of July.
BY MARGARITA WINDISCH