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Message-ID: <38B289D8.E51CBC45@hotmail.com>
From: regina1934@hotmail.com
Newsgroups: soc.culture.europe,soc.culture.nordic,eunet.politics,talk.politics.european-union,alt.politics.ec,soc.culture.austrian,alt.politics
Subject: The European Union's sanctions against Austria
Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2000 12:57:30 GMT
Organization: @Home Network Canada
Taken from the World Socialist Web Site of the International Committee
of the Fourth International at: http://www.wsws.org
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/feb2000/haid-f22.shtml
The European Union's sanctions against Austria
Comment by Peter Schwarz
22 February 2000
For the first time in the history of the European Union (EU), diplomatic
sanctions have been imposed on a member state. The 14 other EU
countries reacted to the entrance of Joerg Haider's extreme right-wing
Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs (FPÖ-Austrian Freedom Party) into the
Austrian government by freezing bilateral relations with the alpine
republic. There will be no more contacts or ambassadorial meetings at an
inter-governmental level, and Austrian candidates will not be supported
when EU international offices are assigned.
Although the sanctions are more symbolic than practical in
nature-unaffected is Austrian co-operation in EU committees, through
which almost all international relations are now conducted-their
announcement has unleashed violent arguments throughout Europe. Both
proponents and opponents appeal to democratic values.
Supporters of sanctions declare that Europe is a "community of shared
values" (German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer), that must clearly
distance itself from the "insulting, anti-foreigner and racist
utterances of
Joerg Haider" (EU Parliamentary President Nicole Fontaine). The
European Union states are concerned with delivering "clear signals, a
type of symbolic policy" (EU Foreign Policy Representative Javier
Solana).
Opponents warn that the EU ban breaks "the fundamental right of each
democracy to decide freely which parties its citizens can vote for and
which of these parties should form the government.... A cabal of EU
heads of government is determining whether the democratic decisions of
the people are valid" ( Die Zeit publisher Theo Sommer).
Closer examination reveals that the poses struck by those claiming to
champion democracy and tolerance on either side are untenable.
The European governments have already disqualified themselves in this
regard through their own practice. Persecution and discrimination
against
foreigners are part of everyday life in the European Union. Haider does
not miss an opportunity to point this out. He, an extreme right-winger?
But hadn't the German Interior Minister Otto Schily-a social
democrat-also demanded a halt to the further influx of foreigners? And
doesn't Tony Blair in Great Britain-likewise a social democrat-call for
a zero-tolerance policy for juvenile offenders? Etc., etc.
The excited reaction of the European governments to Haider has quite
different causes than his xenophobia and intolerance. They are not
offended by his politics, and certainly not by his personality. As the
prime
minister of the Austrian state of Carinthia, Haider has been working for
months in the EU's regional committee in Brussels, without anyone
getting
worked up about it. What they fear are the social tensions and
dislocations which have thrown Haider to the surface, and which he
knows how to skilfully utilise.
Haider can perhaps be restrained and even trusted; but can he restrain
the hopes and expectations he has stirred up?
The Süddeutsche Zeitung thinks not. The paper writes, "with his crude
mixture of xenophobia and neo-liberal demands for slimming down the
state and disempowering the establishment controlled by the 'old
parties',
it was easy for him to rally the frightened, and therefore easily
whipped-up petty bourgeoisie. In the long run, however, Haider will have
to disappoint the high expectations of his clientele, because this
mixture is
not a consistent response to the manifold and complex challenges of
globalisation."
In Austria, the European governments see a mirror of their own future.
Social tensions are rising, while their own influence rapidly decreases.
The traditional conservative parties are in free fall throughout Europe:
the
Italian Christian Democrats have disappeared from the scene; the British
Tories have been pushed to the margins; the French Gaullists have been
ripped to shreds, and now it is the turn of the German Christian
Democratic Union!
The Social Democrats know that they are next. For years they have
ruthlessly driven forward European unification in such a way as to
benefit
the most powerful branches of big business, over the heads of their
traditional voters, who perceive the process only in the form of
unemployment, austerity measures, welfare cuts and increasing
insecurity.
They face mistrust and rejection from below.
Who will fill the vacuum that is emerging? In Austria it was Haider. In
the
absence of a progressive-i.e., genuinely socialist-alternative, he could
direct the fears and indignation of sections of the population into
nationalist and anti-foreign channels.
But it is not only Austria that has Joerg Haiders. In Belgium, the
extreme
right-wing Vlaams Blok has recorded some success. In France, former
Interior Minister Charles Pasqua, from the right flank of the Gaullists,
has
created a new party that is thought capable of even greater successes
than the Front National of Jean Marie Le Pen. It is no coincidence that
the governments of these two countries have reacted most violently to
the
developments in Austria.
In Denmark, the xenophobic People's Party under Pia Kjaersgard has
registered spectacular success. In Norway, the right-wing Progress Party
is the second strongest in parliament. In Italy, the party press of
Umberto
Bossi's Lega Nord (Northern League) led with the headline: "Haider and
Lega Nord, the elective affinities". And in Germany, the Bavarian
Christian Social Union has demonstratively solidarised itself with the
new
Austrian government.
"Behind the fear of Haider lurks the fear of their own voters, of a
fraying
on the right," comments Die Zeit. Political instability and danger for
the
further expansion of the European Union are threatened. Decisions of
general principle are pending this year regarding the planned expansion
into Eastern Europe, which could now fail because of Austrian
opposition.
These are the real reasons for the sanctions against Austria. The
European governments are fighting against a Frankenstein monster that
they have created and which they continue to nourish. This is why the
sanctions have been so half-hearted and are becoming a farce.
In the meantime, the issue has been reduced to the question of whether
one should shake hands with Austrian representatives at regular EU
meetings and appear with them in group photos. One newspaper
mockingly commented on the occasion of the recent foreign minister's
meeting in Brussels of a "diplomatic ballet around Haider's shadow".
If the sanctions have achieved anything, they have made Haider stronger.
The actions of the European governments could only reinforce the
impression that the authorities in Brussels and the European great
powers
arrogantly trample upon the interests of a small country.
"At worst, the decision of the 14 European Union states could confirm
old anti-European prejudices about the undemocratic nature of the
community. And so-at the extreme-foster the solidarity of those
deprived of their rights, the banding together of the overburdened and
misunderstood," writes the Süddeutsche Zeitung.
However, to draw from this the conclusion that Haider's ascent
expresses the "democratic decision of the people", as Theo Sommer
writes in the article quoted above from Die Zeit, is absurd. This
argument
is only a foretaste of the coming reconciliation of the European
establishment with Haider, which is inevitable. In reality, Haider's
success
is the result of the absence of democracy, if this is understood not
simply
in a formal sense, but from the standpoint real political conditions:
i.e., the
ability of broad social layers to influence political events.
In the 1960s and 70s, the traditional parties still reacted to a certain
degree to the will of the voters and pressure from below. Their economic
and social policies had to take the needs of broader social layers into
account. Today this no longer the case.
All parties adapt their politics to the requirements of the stock
market.
No matter how an election turns out, the policy remains the same. The
parties no longer argue about different programmes, but only about who
can put the same big business program into practice more effectively.
Haider understood how to turn the disappointments and fears that this
produced to his own benefit-not as a democrat, who genuinely
responds to the social needs of his voters, but as a right-wing
demagogue, who channels their fears against the weakest and most
oppressed in society, against foreigners and refugees.
Meanwhile, the governmental programme of the new People's
Party/Freedom Party coalition reads like a blueprint for the programmes
of the German, Italian and British governments. At its heart lies the
reorganisation of the budget. To this end, jobs are to be cut,
provisions
for welfare, sickness and unemployment benefits and pensions are to be
"reformed", state-owned industries privatised and forced labour
introduced for people on social security.
Without doubt, Haider represents a real danger to democratic rights and
the past social achievements of the working class. But this danger
cannot
be fought by solidarising with the hypocritical professions of democracy
from the European governments. The only effective response to Haider,
and the danger from the right which he embodies, is the building of a
political movement that defends the social needs of working people
against the interests of big business-that is, the building of an
international socialist party.
See Also:
The Austrian ultra-rightist Haider and Europe
[5 February 2000]
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/feb2000/aust-f05.shtml
Ultra-rightist Haider close to entering Austrian government
[1 February 2000]
http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/nov1999/aus-n18.shtml
Austria [WSWS Full Coverage]
http://www.wsws.org/sections/category/news/eu-aust.shtml
Readers: The WSWS invites your comments. Please send e-mail:
editor@wsws.org
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