Austrians are to go to the polls in November following the resignation of three Freedom Party ministers from the coalition with the conservative People's Party.
Their position became impossible over the weekend following a revolt in the ranks of the far right party provoked by its former leader, Dr Jörg Haider. He objected to the government's decision to delay a planned tax cut by a year in order to fund flood relief. These events have a political resonance beyond Austria because of the controversial bilateral boycotts by the other European Union states arising from the appointment of the coalition in February 2000. Dr Haider's rooted hostility to EU enlargement could possibly delay that process if he does well at the polls.
Dr Haider withdrew from the party leadership shortly after the so-called blue-black coalition was formed, recognising that his presence would endlessly complicate an arrangement which had already caused an unprecedented crisis in Austria's relations with its EU partners. But he remained in politics, consolidating his base as governor of Carinthia province, which borders the Czech Republic. Fears there about immigration and consequent job losses arising from enlargement maintained his appeal and enabled him to mobilise sufficient support within the Freedom Party to get his way when he provoked this crisis.
Dr Haider picked the tax issue to put terminal pressure on the coalition, which has failed to deliver on many of its promised reforms. A clear split emerged between the parliamentary wing of the party, becoming more comfortable with power and keen to hold on to it, and the far right ranks responding to Dr Haider's populist message. Family policy and labour market reforms have not been completed. Support for both parties is down in opinion polls, which also indicate gains for a possible red-green coalition between the Socialists and the Greens, perhaps with support from the small Liberal party.
Many younger Austrians voted for the People's Party as a protest against the engrained corporatism which they believe has suffocated the country's politics for most of the post-war period, rather than in support of neo-fascist policies. This crisis exposes clearly the party's ambiguous appeal. It may also achieve one of the principal objectives of many such voters, by throwing up other possible political configurations as alternatives to the grand coalitions between the Socialists and People's parties on which Austria's post-war political stability was based.
There is no majority among Austrian voters or parties for the opposition to EU enlargement proclaimed by Dr Haider. The EU has now a more coherent approach to breaches of fundamental values, for which sanctions are provided in the Nice Treaty. But these events serve as another reminder that far right wing parties can thrive from the political failure to convince citizens of the desirability and mutual advantage of EU enlargement.