Comments on: Lisbon a Austrian perspective

By: Jer

Jer — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 13:33:49 +0000

Well god knows we will need it Daphne. Any donations to Irish Govt, care of FF. Please mark as Political donations political use only.

Simon any chance Georg might be able to do a second snap-shot of Austria.

I came across an article today about the tussle between the right there and it seems to be building into a lively competition. Especially with the right looking to mandate future EU referendums constitutionally.

Tie in with Juncker’s advise to delay the Irish referendum then its still a rocky road.

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By: Georg

Georg — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 07:16:20 +0000

They announced that they “would form a coalition with everyone if good work is possible”. Still it is next door to impossible that they would dramatically change their EU course as they were also doing a lot of campaigning for a referendum and against Lisbon.

By: Lisbon Portugal

Lisbon Portugal — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 06:08:59 +0000

I think the BZOE will change their Contra EU opinion soon, because they are interested in a coalition with the Peoples Party (Conservatives) in the next government.

By: Georg

Georg — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 22:45:00 +0000

Well, dont like them aswell, but they came into that government by democratic elections (whichs is of course alarming).

Eventhough Austria was sanctioned formally by 28 states it was effectively sold and is still known as the EU sanctions, and there is quite a number of people who still believe that they were “dictated by Brussels”. After all it was also some kind of inconsequence that made the afterglow of these sanctions were damaging. If you remember the OEVP-FPOE coalition was just the beginning, as other coalitions with far right-wing parties in Europe followed, but none of them were sanctioned.

By: Niall

Niall — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 22:30:50 +0000

As far as I know, the impact on the people of Austria was pretty close to nil, which is why I supported the move. Nazis are Nazis. So long as that kind of directed action is reserved for those kind of situations, I’m happy. And besides, I may be wrong, but I believe the decision was made by the member states and not the EU itself.

Whatever the result in Austria, I think it was important that we made it clear to all political parties in the EU that alliances with right-wing fascists would not be ignored.

By: Georg

Georg — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 21:56:32 +0000

The government, especially the former chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel/OEVP, managed to spin it so far, that most of the people (expect those who principally oppose the FPOE, which are the minority – sadly) saw them, again especially the OEVP, as kind of martyrs. What followed was a major 44% win when the OEVP-FPOE coalition broke in 2002 due to FPOE internal disputes. Nevertheless, after the elections they tried it again and the result was the Haider split off from the FPOE by founding the BZOE. From 2000 to 2006 the OEVP adopted more and more policies from the FPOE (later BZOE), which situates them clearly right from the middle in questions of migration and asylum.

To get back on topic: I dont believe that the sanctions where the right reaction, eventhough I do not believe that a far right-wing party (in many parts belonging to the extreme right imo) should be part of a government. It was quite likely that this would do more damage than it helped, and after all it might have laid the ground to the galloping EU scepticism in Austria.

By: Irish jer

Irish jer — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 21:30:35 +0000

The EU froze diplomatic realtions with Austria in an attempt to force the freedom party out. While they might have had reservations with members of the govt. they effectively targeted the Austrian nation by freezing relations with its elected govt. I dont see how that is anything other than a punishment/pressure on the Austrian nation. While the impact might ultimately have been small (as far as I know) Austria as a nation did not, for a period, enjoy the same level of diplomatic interaction in the EU as other members based on how it voted in a general election. A dismal precedent.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/917099.stm

Future Taoiseach. You’ll be glad to know that the Ducth labour party is languishing in the polls. Something like a twenty year low if i recall correctly. their pseudo-charismatic leader Wouter Bos is proving uninspiring to the electorate and they would only get about 15 seats out of the 150 odd available at the moment. Similar to Austria the hard right is on the march in holland. between Trots van Nederland and Geert Wilder’s Partij voor de Vrijheide they would have about 35 seats out of the 150 odd. Off the top of my head the labour party might be only 5th or 6th if an election were held amarach.

By: Niall

Niall — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 19:38:37 +0000

“Collective punishment”

How so?

By: Future Taoiseach

Future Taoiseach — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 18:39:55 +0000

I think what matters like this illustrate is that Ireland is not alone in its misgivings about Lisbon and the fact that we were the only country in the EU getting a referendum on it. The elites ran away from the idea of referenda after France and Holland voted no to the EU Constitution, which is 95% identical to Lisbon on the admission of Cowen, Bertie and many other leaders like Giscard d’Estaing. If the elites want to create a Federal Europe, then it’s incumbent on them to have direct popular consent for this. What is all the more disgraceful is that the politicians pushing this outside of Ireland in some cases were actually elected on an anti-EU Constitution/Lisbon ticket, including the Dutch Labour party which is part of the Coalition govt in Holland. You can’t blame the people there and in France (where Sarkozy is crashing in the polls) for feeling cheated. I think we need to stand up for democracy by continuing to resist this Treaty being foisted on us and the rest of Europe in its current form, especially in the absence of direct consultation in the remaining member states.