Austria legislative election, 1999

In Austria, the legislative election of October 3, 1999 (elections for the National Council of Austria) caused a major upheaval in the political landscape.

Protests and "Sanctions"

The government headed by Schüssel was - in its beginnings - probably the most controversial since 1945, both inside and outside of Austria.

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Between 2000 and 2002 there were weekly Donnerstagsdemonstrationen (Thursday Demonstrations) through the city and the inner districts of Vienna. The heads the governments of the other 14 EU members decided to cease cooperation with the Austrian government, as it was felt in many countries that the cordon sanitaire against coalitions with parties considered as right-wing extremists, which had mostly held in Western Europe since 1945, had been breached. For example, for several months, other national leaders refused to shake hands and socialize with members of the Schüssel government. In Austria, this approach was often described as sanctions, for which supporters of the government often blamed the opposition social democrats and President Thomas Klestil, whose loyalty to the country was thus put into question. The EU leaders soon saw that their measures were counterproductive and returned to normality during the summer of 2000, even though the coalition remained unchanged. Nevertheless it is not easy to measure effects of the "sanctions". Short-term effects seemed to be counterproductive, but it is still possible that "sanctions" later helped to decrease the popularity of Freedom Party and also to prevent such coalitions in other EU countries.

Related Topics:
2002 - Right-wing

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