TIME EUROPE
FEBRUARY 14, 2000 VOL. 155 NO. 6
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A Right Mess!
It is the appeal of right-wing parties like Haider's to some of Europe's disenchanted young that helped provoke the response from E.U. leaders. The extremist parties themselves--and Europe has plenty of them (see profiles)--reacted with glee. A spokesman for the German People's Union--a party which has election slogans like "Criminal Foreigners Out!"--said the Schröder government had attacked Haider out of fear that "the support for rightist demands" could grow in Germany too.
How to control the "rightist demands" that Haider has now translated into political power is increasingly going to be a problem for a European Union with a declining population and a growing need for immigrant workers. Particularly in smaller countries, there is fear among many ordinary citizens that their cultures and beliefs might be overwhelmed by influxes of outsiders. Austrians point out that, per capita, they took in more refugees from the Bosnian war than any other European country, and non-E.U.-member Switzerland has, per capita, Europe's highest number of asylum seekers: 182,000 at the end of last year. The problem is that while these numbers cause some people genuine concern, they are easily oversimplified to make foreign synonymous with foe.
A small example comes from Denmark, where the right-wing Danish People's Party won 7.4% at the last polls, giving it 15 of the 179 seats in Parliament. After an antiracist group seeking to integrate migrants into Danish society published an advertisement showing a dark-skinned person saying: "When I become white, I want to be a teacher," the People's Party ran an ad of its own. Playing on fears that foreigners are usurping Danes' rights to housing, it showed a white Dane saying: "When I become a Muslim, I want a place to live."
While Europe as a whole has to face the dangers of these them-versus-us attitudes, the E.U. has the more immediate problem of its unavoidable dealings with Haider-Schüssel Austria. That the European Commission reacted more quietly than the 14 national political leaders was in part a reflection of its inherent powerlessness. After an extraordinary session to try to map a course through the legal and diplomatic morass of the new situation, it "noted" the member states' views, adding "at this stage, the working of the European institutions is not affected." Britain's Commissioner for external relations, Chris Patten, and Austria's own Franz Fischler, the agriculture Commissioner, urged the Commission not to go out on a limb over Haider.
The Commission can only act against a member government--in a process ending in the European Court of Justice--over a specific national policy that contravenes Community law. Fischler himself won't be affected because he, like all Austrian staff in Brussels, legally represents the Commission, not the country. The most pressing problem is how the European Council, the body that breaks into ministerial working groups to thrash out common positions on virtually all E.U. matters, will go about its business. Will representatives shun seats next to Austrians? Say no to any bilateral talks? Refuse to pass the water jug?
In the European Parliament, many on the left applauded the fact that, as one put it, the E.U. had for once "actually acted on a matter of principle." Observers of the E.U.'s machinery were less convinced. Peter Ludlow, director of a Brussels think tank, the Centre for European Policy Studies, said: "The 14 governments have clearly painted themselves into a corner. They are obliged to treat Austria as a member until there is 'a serious and persistent breach' of E.U. principles." An irony, given Haider's election campaigns, is that Ludlow calls the E.U. reaction "a further example of the trend to subject sound policy to populism."
In Britain, where official reaction has been less vociferous than in most E.U. countries, Charles Grant, director of the London-based Centre for European Reform, a think tank considered close to the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair, is equally damning, calling the E.U. leaders' response "extremely stupid, thoughtless and infantile." The sensible course, he argues, "would have been to say, 'We'll be watching you like ferrets, and if you deviate from Union agreements we'll come down on you like a ton of bricks.'"
Jörg Haider has so far looked comfortable riding out the storm, which has even included calls to boycott Austria's ski slopes. He knew, of course, that it would happen. A warning came back in December, when he was in Brussels to open a new office there for Carinthia. The speaker doing the formalities pointed out that the slogan which Carinthia, Slovenia and the Italian region of Friuli are using in their bid to jointly host the 2006 Winter Olympics is "senza confini"--without borders. He added: "Anyone who elevates exclusion and xenophobia to principles has not understood the European idea--and will therefore not be understood in Europe." The beefy orator who was with Haider is better-known for his hard line on E.U. farm subsidies--Austria's own Franz Fischler. That he is right was underscored in Vienna last week by Yunus Yoldas, 30, who has just finished his doctorate in political science there. Yoldas, who is Turkish, predicted, "Austria will become increasingly isolated. People like me simply won't come here any more." That may be just what Jörg Haider wants, but it is the last thing a unifying Europe needs.
Reported by James Graff/Brussels, Nicholas Le Quesne/Paris, Angela Leuker and Andrew Purvis/Vienna and Ursula Sautter/Bonn with other bureaus
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