A xenophobic, extremist right–wing party — whose leader seems like a reincarnation of Adolf Hitler to many people and political leaders in Europe — is now an equal partner in the new government in Austria. The rise to power of such a man in the heart of democratic Europe has thrown the entire European community in an agonising soul–search. Quite apart from the spectre of a new fascist movement on the ascendant, there is the more immediate problem of the Austrian example providing a powerful boost to racist and xenophobic extremist organisations all over Europe.

Joerg Haider is the name of the man whose far–right Freedom Party (FPO) notched up 27 per cent of the popular votes in the general elections last October to emerge as Austria’s second largest party, with 52 of the total 183 seats. First in the electoral race but short of a majority, the Social Democrats failed to reach an agreement on renewing their 13–year–old coalition with Austria’s conservative People’s Party but refused any truck with the FPO. It was then that Herr Haider struck a deal and a very reluctant President Thomas Klestil finally swore in a new government on February 4.

(A throwback to 1933, when President Paul von Hindenberg had invited Hitler’s party into the German government? Not many had then foreseen the threat that Hitler’s 33 per cent of the vote posed to German democracy or world peace, no one had then anticipated the Nazi party’s aggressive military intent, its rampant anti-Semitism, or the ‘Final Solution’).

Herr Haider’s politics is as much a cause for concern as his background. The main plank of his party in the last election was his populist demand that the immigrants from the Balkans and Eastern Europe, who now constitute around five per cent of Austria’s population, be sent back to their countries. With unemployment running at nearly 11 per cent, the FPO attracted the votes of half of all male voters under 30. Haider also strongly opposes the entry of East European countries into the presently 15–member European Union of which Austria is a part.

That is not all. The FPO’s Nazi roots are well known. Haider’s own parents were strong Nazi supporters and the large estate he inherited from them was Jewish–owned until it was "Aryanised" in 1938. Recently, Haider publicly praised Hitler’s "orderly" employment policy, but subsequently apologised.

To compound matters further, unlike Germany, Austria as a country and Austrians as a people have yet to come to terms with their pro–Nazi past. Austrians see themselves as Nazism’s "first victim" while the rest of the West sees them as Hitler’s "first willing accomplice". When Hitler annexed Austria, there were jubilant crowds on the streets of Vienna and elsewhere; and spontaneous incidents of anti–Semitism followed. (Among other ignominies, Jewish women were made to scrub the streets on their hands and knees while Austrian Nazis urinated all over them).

This, incidentally is the second time in 14 years that Austria is troubling the European conscience. In 1986, the country elected Kurt Waldheim as its President ignoring his involvement in Nazi atrocities. Waldheim pretended he could not remember what he did many decades ago.

Now faced with a leader like Herr Haider in its midst, Europe is divided over how to respond to the challenge: No compromise on "principles and values", no truck with racism, rabid nationalism and crypto–fascism of the FPO variety? Or, adherence to the "first principle of democracy" ("parliamentary majority must be respected") and non–interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state?

The other 14 members of the European Union, besides Austria, had threatened to sever relations with one of its own partners if Haider’s chauvinist party became a part of the Austrian government. To make itself more presentable to the western world, the coalition government has evolved a formula which includes the following: Haider himself did not join the national government but continues as a regional governor; two, despite him being Haider’s first choice for the post, Thomas Prinzhorn does not occupy the vice–chancellor’s chair; and, three, the coalition partners have pledged themselves to an extraordinary declaration which reads — "Austria accepts her responsibility arising out of the tragic history of the 20th century and the horrendous crimes of the National Socialist regime. Our country is facing up to the light and dark sides of its past and to the deeds of all Austrians, good and evil, as its responsibility". The declaration also pledges the future government to work for "an Austria in which xenophobia, anti-Semitism and racism have no place".

Despite this, several European governments — with Germany, France, Belgium and Portugal in the lead – took the first steps towards the political isolation of Austria the moment the new government was sworn–in. But some are worried that penal action against Austria will only increase Herr Haider’s appeal: the latest opinion poll in Austria indicates that if elections were held today, 33 per cent would vote for his party against the 27 per cent last October.