Right-wing populists join forces

Two Austrian right-wing populist parties, the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) and the strong Carinthian arm of the party once led by Jörg Haider, the Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ), have joined forces. This could be dangerous for the moderate parties, the daily Die Presse writes: "Because the strategy of Heinz-Christian Strache [FPÖ] und Uwe Scheuch [BZÖ] is clear and rather clever: the FPÖ garners the nationwide votes of the BZÖ and meanwhile the BZÖ members from the Austrian province of Carinthia need no longer fear competition from within their own camp. By reason of his feudal views Scheuch has no interests in federal politics, while Strache gets the National Assembly mandate for Carinthia for free. The concept is called 'onwards into the past': not only ideologically but above all strategically. The other parties, in particular the SPÖ, will have to get their act together if they want to prevent the 'new' FPÖ from becoming number two in the country like in 1999."

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