Alliance for the Future of Austria

The Alliance for the Future of Austria (de: Bündnis Zukunft Österreich or BZÖ) is an Austrian political party founded by Jörg Haider, his sister Ursula Haubner, and other leading members of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) on April 4, 2005. This resulted in the split of the Freedom Party, the future prospects of which seemed very uncertain for a time. Since the BZÖ has fared very badly in the state elections it participated in, most commentators believe that it will disappear after the 2006 elections.

Foundation

The BZÖ was founded as the result of considerable disagreements within the Freedom Party between Jörg Haider and the circle around Heinz-Christian Strache, Andreas Mölzer and Ewald Stadler. The party's charter was deposited at the Federal Ministry for the Interior on April 3 2005 as is required by Austrian law and the foundation of the party was announced by former leading members of the Freedom Party the following day.

On April 6 2005 the party's charter was published in the official gazette of the Wiener Zeitung, an act which is required upon the foundation of a new party, and the initial conference took place on April 17 in Salzburg where the party's programme was agreed upon.

The BZÖ became the first party of the Second Republic to immediately join a government without taking part in an election. In the coalition with the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), the BZÖ holds the vice-chancellorship and two ministries.

Policies

The BZÖ describes itself as "ideologiefrei, aber zukunftsorientiert und wertebewusst" (free from ideology, but forward-looking and conscious of traditional values). Some of its policies, however, are quite distinct from those of the Freedom Party. ^* They include:

An increase in direct democracy
A Europe of nation states
The establishment of a "Core Europe" within the EU, including Austria
Support for the social market economy
Minimum employment and environmental standards for businesses
The introduction of the Tobin tax
Support for small businesses
Increased government spending on research and development
A minimum wage
Enhancing the status of vocational education (including an apprenticeship leading to the Matura)
The introduction of a flat tax
Tax breaks for childcare costs
An EU-wide Green tax shift
Strict control of immigration
A "fair and strict" law on asylum
A referendum on Austrian neutrality
Comprehensive schooling for children from six to fifteen
Compulsory pre-schooling
Compulsory German lessons for the children of immigrants
Support for organic farming
The renationalisation of agriculture
The abolition of inheritance tax

Members

At the initial party conference on April 17 2005, Jörg Haider was elected leader of the Alliance. Hubert Gorbach, the Austrian Vice-Chancellor and Minister for Infrastructure is now the parliamentary leader, with Heike Trammer and Karin Gastinger as his deputies. Uwe Scheuch, a member of the National Council and former General Secretary of the Freedom Party, is the Alliance's spokesman. The BZÖ has chosen orange as its party colour.

Other prominent members are: -

Social Security Minister and former Freedom Party leader Ursula Haubner (Jörg Haider's sister)
Thomas Prinzhorn, the Deputy President of the National Council
Herbert Scheibner, the leader of the Freedom Party group in the National Council

However, of the above-named politicians only Herbert Scheibner has resigned from the Freedom Party. The other intend to belong to both parties, the Freedom Party and the BZÖ. The Freedom Party, however, has announced that it will not accept members who belong to other parties. Following this announcement, on April 7 Hilmar Kabas, the Freedom Party's interim leader, expelled Jörg Haider, who had been the Freedom Party's federal leader and main ideologue for years. Along with Haider, Martin Strutz, the Freedom Party's leader in Carinthia, and the former parliamentary group leader Kurt Scheuch were expelled. Kabas stated that anyone who was a member of another party could no longer be a member of the Freedom Party.

National presence

It remains unclear whether the coalition between the People's Party and the BZÖ has a majority as only nine of the eighteen former Freedom Party deputies in the National Council have crossed over to the BZÖ. To achieve a parliamentary majority at least thirteen of the former Freedom Party deputies must support Wolfgang Schüssel's People's Party. Of the five Freedom Party members on the Federal Council at the time of the split - two each from Carinthia and Vienna and one from Styria - only the Carinthian members have crossed over to the BZÖ. Prior to the summer of 2005, the governing coalition had already lost a vote on one occasion in the Federal Council due to the defection of the FPÖ deputy John Gudenus. As a result of the state elections in Styria, Burgenland and Vienna in October 2005, the coalition lost its majority in the Federal Council, even when counting FPÖ members. The BZÖ wishes to continue the coalition until the planned elections in Autumn 2006. Initially Chancellor Schüssel did not exclude the possibility of calling an early election, but on April 5 2005 he announced the continuation of the coalition. However, there is some speculation that members of parliament who have not clearly taken sides between the FPÖ and the BZÖ might opt for the former at some point as this would appear to promise better prospects for retaining their seats.

Presence in the Bundesländer

The organisations of the Freedom Party in the individual Bundesländer (states) reacted in very different ways to the creation of the BZÖ at first. The Carinthian branch of the Freedom Party, which enjoys a great deal of autonomy under the party's statutes, is the only state organisation which became a part of the BZÖ en masse and now forms its core.

The Freedom Party in Upper Austria originally planned to decouple itself from the federal party and go its own way without joining the BZÖ for the time being. There were differing legal interpretations of what such a decoupling might entail and what the exact relationship is between the state and federal Freedom Party. Consequently on April 18 2005 the locks on the offices of the Freedom Party in Upper Austria were changed twice in the space of one evening. The first change of locks was on the orders of interim federal leader Hilmar Kabas on the basis that the federal party was listed as owner in the land registry. Günther Steinkellner, the leader of the Freedom Party in Upper Austria (which considers itself independent from the federal party and does not accept Hilmar Kabas' expulsion of Steinkellner from the party) instituted legal action for criminal damage and had the locks changed again.

The Freedom Party in Vorarlberg also initially announced its intention to go its own way, but then decided a few days later to remain a part of the Freedom Party so as not to lose its official funding.

The state parties split in Vienna, the Tyrol and Styria. The state leaders in these three Bundesländer decided to remain a part of the Freedom Party, although some members of these state groups showed sympathy towards the BZÖ. In Vienna, nine of the twenty-one-strong Freedom Party contingent in the Landtag (state assembly) want to form their own group Bündnis Zukunft Wien (Alliance for the Future of Vienna) with close links to the BZÖ. In the Tyrol, both Freedom Party deputies in the Landtag crossed over to the BZÖ, whilst the state party leader Gerald Hauser continued on course with the Freedom Party and threatened to expel the two deputies from the Freedom Party. In Styria, three of the seven deputies moved to the BZÖ.

These events have brought sharp criticism from Barbara Rosenkranz, leader of the Lower Austrian Freedom Party and a deputy of the National Council. Her state party should remain within the Freedom Party, which is also the case with regard to Salzburg. The state party in Burgenland also unanimously declared they would remain within the Freedom Party.

Election results

The first test for the BZÖ came in a series of Landtag elections in October 2005. In the elections to the Styrian state parliament on October 2, 2005, the BZÖ only obtained a 1.7% share of votes and clearly failed to enter the Landtag, while the FPÖ, with a percentage of 4.6%, failed by a much smaller margin. The BZÖ's leading candidate was Michael Schmid, a former Austrian minister of infrastructure.

The BZÖ did not stand in the elections in Burgenland on October 9. In the October 23 Vienna elections, it was led by former Lower Austrian state government member Hans Jörg Schimanek. However, it captured only 1.2% of votes, while the FPÖ, led by national party chairman Heinz-Christian Strache, surprised pollsters with a share of 14.9%.

As the result of these developments, prominent party members who have not clearly taken sides have called upon leaders to mend the rift. However, since the BZÖ has apparently not gained recognition in the electorate, FPÖ Chairman Heinz-Christian Strache seems to be in the better position to reunite the group under his leadership. It seems unlikely that he would accept any leaders of the BZÖ back into the party. While the BZÖ remains strong in Carinthia (where new elections are not due until 2009) under the leadership of Jörg Haider, its prospects at the state level seem gloomy everywhere else. It remains to be seen whether it can gain seats in the National Council in the 2006 elections.

Finances

The BZÖ's financial situation remains unclear. The group will not take over any of the Freedom Party's debts, but on the other hand, it has no access to the Freedom Pary's means of support. The parliamentary group of the Freedom Party, to which the BZÖ nominally still belongs, is entitled to an annual grant of €1,976,000. However, the state party funding still belongs to the Freedom Party as this was the party that fought the last election. The relatively wealthy Freedom Party state organisation in Vienna will not be transferred to the BZÖ. There has been repeated speculation that the Austrian-Canadian industrialist Frank Stronach might support the BZÖ, primarily because he enjoys good relations with Jörg Haider. This has been denied by Andreas Rudas, spokesman for Stronach's Magna International, and Stronach himself has made no comment on the matter. There are no other big contributors in the picture currently and the party will therefore have to support itself exclusively from membership subscriptions.

Controversies

The party's attitude to the Nazi period

Upon its foundation the BZÖ declared itself ready for government and for a continuation of the coalition with the People's Party. One of the reasons for founding the new party, according to its leading lights, was the need to separate themselves from the German nationalist wing of the Freedom Party. However, shortly after his move from the Freedom Party to the BZÖ, Siegfried Kampl, a Carinthian member of the Federal Council and long-time mayor of Gurk, caused indignation when he described deserters from the Wehrmacht as "comrade-murderers" (Kameradenmörder) and denazification as "brutal persecution of Nazis" (brutale Nazi-Verfolgung) during a debate on the rehabilitation of people condemned during the Nazi period. He later resigned from the BZÖ but remains a member of the Federal Council. Jörg Haider too, the founder and leader of the BZÖ, has in the past more than once caused a stir with comments such as praise for the "well-run employment policies" (ordentliche Beschäftigungspolitik) of the Third Reich or his declaration in a speech to SS veterans that he was glad that "there are still decent people, who have character, who stand by their convictions despite running into a great headwind, and who have remained true to their convictions until this day" (es noch anständige Menschen gibt, die einen Charakter haben und die auch bei größtem Gegenwind zu ihrer Überzeugung stehen und ihrer Überzeugung bis heute treu geblieben sind).

The party's name

The marketing of the party is the responsibility of Haider's ally of many years Gernot Rumpold. According to reports in the media numerous names were considered for the new party before Bündnis Zukunft Österreich was chosen. This name could provoke conflict as there is a party which has been active in Germany since 2001 by the name of Bündnis für die Zukunft (Alliance for the Future) which is on guard against the seizure of its name by a break-away group of the "Haider party". The name Bündnis für die Zukunft has long stood for a party with non-violent, social, ecological, and democratic concerns. ^*. Members of this party are particularly concerned about being confused with the right-wing Austrian party in the event of a European election and do not want to be associated with the policies of a party formed from the break up of the Freedom Party.

Sources

Much of the content of this article is translated from the Bündnis Zukunft Österreich as of September 11 2005.

External links

Political parties in Austria | Austrian nationalist parties | Austrian liberal parties

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