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Austria Political Developments since 1983
In 1983 a thirteen-year period of single-party rule by the
SPÖ came to an end. The period had been dominated by Bruno
Kreisky, who served as chancellor for the entire time
(see The Kreisky Years, 1970-83
, ch. 1). With Kreisky as its leader, the
SPÖ had emerged from the election in 1970 as the strongest party.
This election marked a turning point in Austrian history because
never before had a socialist party been given such a mandate by
the voters. The outcome was conclusive proof that most Austrians
had lost their fear of the SPÖ's being too leftist to govern
alone.
SPÖ-FPÖ Coalition, 1983-86
In the election of 1983, the SPÖ lost its absolute majority
in the Nationalrat, although it remained the largest party
(see End of the Kreisky Era
, ch. 1.). Kreisky fulfilled his pledge to
resign as chancellor if the SPÖ lost its undisputed position in
parliament. Fred Sinowatz, a rather colorless figure who had been
minister for education under Kreisky, was selected as the new
chancellor. The SPÖ decided to form a coalition with the FPÖ,
marking the first time ever that the FPÖ had joined the
government. Norbert Steger, the moderate chairman of the FPÖ, was
named vice chancellor and minister for economic affairs, and
other members of his party became minister for defense and
minister for justice.
The SPÖ-FPÖ coalition lasted only three years and was not
very productive. It faced a series of crises that never allowed
it to become firmly established. Although the coalition had made
progress on environmental protection a high priority, its
decision to build a hydroelectric plant at Hainburg in a wetland
forest east of Vienna provoked a storm of opposition from
environmental activists. In the end, the government decided to
cancel the project
(see The Green Parties
, this ch.).
The coalition's image received another black mark in 1985
when FPÖ Minister for Defense Friedhelm Frischenschläger staged a
welcoming ceremony at the airport for Walter Reder, a former
Waffen SS member who had been serving a life sentence for
executing civilians during World War II before being pardoned by
the Italians. Some SPÖ members of the cabinet threatened to
resign over this affair, but Frischenschläger was allowed to
remain in his post. This incident hurt the SPÖ's standing among
its own members, as well as among independent voters.
Austria received further unpleasant jolts in 1985. First came
the news that diethylene glycol, a chemical used in antifreeze,
had been added to Austrian wines in potentially lethal amounts.
The wines affected came from Burgenland, the home province of
Chancellor Sinowatz. Even more damaging to the country's selfimage , however, was the crisis in the state-run industrial sector
that came to light at roughly the same time. The government
announced that it had uncovered a financial scandal at the United
Austrian Iron and Steel Works (Vereinigte Österreichische Eisenund Stahlwerke--VÖEST; commonly known as VÖEST-Alpine) in Linz.
Public funds were required to cover large losses incurred through
risky and unauthorized speculation in oil ventures. Moreover, the
entire state industrial sector required streamlining, and jobs
had to be cut.
The method of staffing these industries was a prime example
of the ÖVP and SPÖ's Proporz system, which created
fiefdoms in which political affiliations were the main criteria
for filling high-level management positions. The crisis in this
sector of the economy revealed that the Kreisky governments had
been guilty of serious mismanagement. The confidence of the SPÖ
in particular was shaken as it faced the need for privatization
and layoffs. The government abolished the Proporz system
at VÖEST-Alpine and appointed new management to rectify the
problems.
Data as of December 1993
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