No to FPÖ in government! The far right threatens social rights
Interview of Walter Baier, President of the Party of the European Left for Il Manifesto.
Read the English translation of the interview below:
What is your reaction to the rise of the extreme right in your country? What does it mean for Austria?
The FPÖ’s election victory is particularly bad for working people. The FPÖ is the party of the ultra-reactionary, German nationalist wing of Austrian big business, from which it also receives financial and media support. Its economic program is directed against the trade unions and the welfare state. Its anti-foreigner and anti-minority hate speech is camouflages of its anti-social character.
The FPÖ (Freedom Party of Austria) has already been in power as a junior partner in different Austrian governments. Austrian politics tried to “normalize” this, but did it fail?J
The FPÖ has been involved in governments three times, once, incidentally, with the SPÖ. Each time this ended in chaos, because xenophobic rhetoric is no substitute for the ability to govern a country. However, the FPÖ after every embarrassment in government has managed to recover. This demonstrates the deep and longstanding disappointment of voters with the ÖVP and SPÖ, who have taken turns at the head of government for decades. Austria is one of the richest countries in the EU and the world, yet a quarter of children grow up in poverty or at risk of poverty. People are not aware of these statistics, but of the reality of their lives. They sometimes wait months for a vital operation in hospital. This daily experience of rejection and humiliation generates frustration and hatred. It can be summarised in a simple formula: The established parties could not and cannot slow down the rise of the FPÖ because they are detached from every day’s lives of people and do not address the people’s needs.
As an Austrian and as a Communist, are you concerned about the many references to Nazism made by Mr. Kickl?
It’s not just Mr Kickl. The people at the top change, but the party always remains the same. It was founded by Nazis after the war and led by a former high-ranking SS officer until the end of the 1970s. It has never broken off its links with the openly neo-fascist underground and, under H.C. Strache and Herbert, has integrated radical right-wing groups such as the Identitarians. References to National Socialism, which serve to appeal to this milieu, are just as much a part of the FPÖ as xenophobia and populism.
What happens now? Do you think President Van der Bellen will stick to his promise not to appoint Mr. Kickl as Chancellor? Do you believe him? And what is the solution for the Austrian government?
The question will be whether Herbert Kickl can unite a viable majority in parliament behind him. In this case, it would be practically impossible for the Federal President to refuse to swear in the government. That will depend on the ÖVP. There are strong voices in the Austrian Federation of Industrialists in favour of an ÖVP-FPÖ coalition. On the other hand, this would mean that the ÖVP would hand over the office of Federal Chancellor to the FPÖ. That could be difficult for them. The alternative would be a three-party coalition of the ÖVP, which would provide the chancellor, with the SPÖ and either the Greens or the Neos, the latter with an economic programme is very close to that of the ÖVP. Whether such a coalition would be stable is another question.
Apparently, this is the first time that an extreme right-wing party has come out on top in Europe. Still, France, Germany, and Italy are also seeing the far right grow stronger or even govern. How do you explain this dark wave across Europe, and what does it mean for the continent?
The rise of the radical right is an expression of a deep crisis in politics. Neoliberalism has failed to fulfil its central promise of guaranteeing individual prosperity and security for those who make an effort. Instead, however, the rich got richer, the poor got poorer and the lives of the middle classes became precarious. It is not surprising that people are turning away from the parties that have identified with neoliberal policies. What’s more, European societies need to reinvent themselves in the face of the ecological crisis and changes in global politics. The established parties are proving incapable of finding socially just and peaceful ways out of these crises. Right-wing extremists are filling this vacuum with the promise that Europe can protect itself from the world’s crises by turning itself into a fortress and building walls against everything foreign. This promise is unrealistic but seductive.
Do you believe Ms. von der Leyen and the current European Commission are equipped to combat the threats posed by the far right?
The new EU Commission proposed by Mrs Von der Leyen in mid-September is the most right-wing in the history of the EU. Raffelo Fitto, a politician from the Fratelli d’Italia, has been proposed as Vice-President of the EU Commission. The migration pact, which was adopted before the EU elections, incorporates large parts of the radical right-wing agenda against asylum seekers and migrants. The cordon sanitaire against the radical right is as full of holes as a Swiss cheese. Perhaps even worse, the EU Commission introduces a return to austerity policies in the coming years. In combination with the armament programs adopted by NATO, this will force states to make cuts to public services, social housing and welfare states. This cannot help but be grist to the mill of the radical right.
How can the European Left respond to this, both in Austria and at the European level?
The primary thing, of course, is not to compromise with the radical right and its hate language, not on refugee policy, not on women’s rights and not on democratic freedoms and civil rights. In Austria, together with many civil society actors, we will demonstrate against the formation of a government led by the FPÖ, even if the real political alternative of a coalition of the established parties is anything but bright. It is therefore necessary for the left to strengthen those movements and trade unions that stand up for fundamentally different policies, for the defence and expansion of public services, for the right to affordable housing, for equal rights for women, for a socially just ecological transition. The battle against the radical right will be won or lost in the area of social policy.
