Freedom Party of Austria

Freedom Party of Austria
Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs
AbbreviationFPÖ
ChairmanHerbert Kickl
Secretaries-General
Leader in the National CouncilHerbert Kickl
Leader in the EPHarald Vilimsky
FounderAnton Reinthaller
Founded7 April 1956; 68 years ago (1956-04-07)
Preceded byFederation of Independents
HeadquartersTheobaldgasse 19/4
A-1060 Vienna
NewspaperNeue Freie Zeitung
Student wingRing Freiheitlicher Studenten
Youth wingRing Freiheitlicher Jugend
Membership (2017)60,000
Ideology
Political positionFar-right[A][5]
European affiliationPatriots.eu
European Parliament group
International affiliation
Colours  Blue
Anthem
  • Immer wieder Österreich
  • ('Always Austria')[6]
National Council
57 / 183
Federal Council
16 / 61
Governorships
0 / 9
State cabinets
3 / 9
State diets
84 / 440
European Parliament
6 / 19
Party flag
Website
fpoe.at
^ A: Before its rightward shift, it was classified as a centre-to-centre-right party,[7] supporting national liberalism and pan-Germanism from 1956 to 1986.

The Freedom Party of Austria[a] (German: Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, FPÖ) is a political party in Austria, variously described as far-right,[14] right-wing populist,[15] national-conservative, eurosceptic and russophile.[16][17][18][19][20] It has been led by Herbert Kickl since 2021. It is the largest of five parties in the National Council, with 58 of the 183 seats, and won 29.21% of votes cast in the 2024 election and it is represented in all nine state legislatures. On a European level, the FPÖ is a founding member of the Patriots.eu (originally the Movement for a Europe of Nations and Freedom) and its six MEPs sit with the Patriots for Europe (PfE) group following the dissolution of its predecessor, Identity and Democracy (ID).

The FPÖ was founded in 1956 as the successor to the short-lived Federation of Independents (VdU), representing pan-Germanists and national liberals opposed to socialism and Catholic clericalism, represented by the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) and the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), respectively. Its first leader, Anton Reinthaller, was a former Nazi functionary and SS officer, but the FPÖ did not advocate far-right policies and presented itself as a centrist party.[21] The FPÖ was long the third largest in Austria and had modest support. Under the leadership of Norbert Steger in the early 1980s, it sought to style itself on Germany's Free Democratic Party (FDP).[22][23][24] The FPÖ gave external support to SPÖ chancellor Bruno Kreisky (SPÖ) after the 1970 election and joined Fred Sinowatz's government, as the SPÖ's junior partner, after the 1983 election.

Jörg Haider became leader of the party in 1986, after which it began an ideological turn towards right-wing populism. This resulted in a strong surge in electoral support, but also led the SPÖ to break ties, and a splinter in the form of the Liberal Forum in 1993. In the 1999 election, the FPÖ won 26.9% of the vote, becoming the second-most popular party, ahead of the ÖVP by around 500 votes. The two parties eventually reached a coalition agreement in which the ÖVP retained the office of chancellor. The FPÖ soon lost most of its popularity, falling to 10% in the 2002 election, but remained in government as junior partner. Internal tensions led Haider and much of the party leadership to leave in 2005, forming the Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ), which replaced the FPÖ as governing partner. Heinz-Christian Strache then became leader, and the party gradually regained its popularity, peaking at 26.0% in the 2017 election. The FPÖ once again became junior partner in government with the ÖVP. In May 2019, the Ibiza affair led to the collapse of the government and the resignation of Strache from both the offices of vice-chancellor and party leader.[25] The resulting snap election saw the FPÖ fall to 16.2% and return to opposition.[26][27] On 30 June 2024, ANO 2011, the Freedom Party of Austria, and Fidesz created a new alliance named Patriots for Europe.[28]

  1. ^ "Anti-Islamisierungs-Kongress: Mit dem Ausflugsdampfer gegen den Islam – WELT". DIE WELT (in German). 19 September 2008. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
  2. ^ "Parties and Elections in Europe". www.parties-and-elections.eu. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
  3. ^ [1][2]
  4. ^ Meyer-Feist, Andreas (14 February 2012), "Austrian villagers quash plans for Buddhist temple", DW, retrieved 16 February 2012
  5. ^
    •  • Hainsworth, Paul (2008), The Extreme Right in Western Europe, Routledge, pp. 38–39
    •  • Art, David (2011), Inside the Radical Right: The Development of Anti-Immigrant Parties in Western Europe, Cambridge University Press, pp. 106–107
    •  • Wodak, Ruth; De Cillia, Rudolf; Reisigl, Martin (2009), The Discursive Construction of National Identity (2nd ed.), Edinburgh University Press, p. 195
    •  • Hale Williams, Michelle (2012), "Downside after the summit: factors in extreme-right party decline in France and Austria", Mapping the Extreme Right in Contemporary Europe: From Local to Transnational, Routledge, p. 260
    •  • Cauquelin, Blaise (30 November 2016). "l'extrême droite près du pouvoir en Autriche". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  6. ^ "FPÖ feiert mit "vielleicht neuer Bundeshymne"". Kleine Zeitung (in German). 2 September 2015. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
  7. ^ Ó Maoláin, Ciarán (1988). Political Parties of the World. Longman. p. 31.
  8. ^ "Freedom Party of Austria". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 9 July 2011.
  9. ^ "Austrian election: Kickl's far right 'opens new era' with unprecedented victory". BBC News. 29 September 2024. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
  10. ^ Tanno, Sophie (28 September 2024). "Austria's far-right FPÖ party is the frontrunner in Sunday's election. How did it get here?". CNN. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
  11. ^ "Austria's Freedom Party secures first far-right national election win since World War II". Washington Post. 30 September 2024. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
  12. ^ "Herbert Kickl und der Rechtsextremismus". DER STANDARD (in Austrian German). Retrieved 7 October 2024.
  13. ^ ""Systemparteien", "Volksverrat", "Ketten brechen" – Kickl und die Sprache der Nazis". DER STANDARD (in Austrian German). Retrieved 7 October 2024.
  14. ^ [9][10][11][12][13]
  15. ^ "FPÖ-Chef Herbert Kickl: Der Provokateur vom rechten Rand". tagesschau.de (in German). Retrieved 7 October 2024.
  16. ^ Crisp, James; Rothwell, James (30 September 2024). "Why Putin is the real winner of Austria's election". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  17. ^ Rothwell, James (28 September 2024). "Meet the Putin-friendly populists on brink of power". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  18. ^ "Die FPÖ und ihre Moskau-Connection". FAZ.NET (in German). 14 March 2024. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  19. ^ Häsler, Georg (1 October 2024). "Österreichs Wende: Kickl, FPÖ und Putins Einfluss". Neue Zürcher Zeitung (in Swiss High German). ISSN 0376-6829. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  20. ^ "En Autriche, l'extrême droite reste alignée sur les intérêts de Moscou" (in French). 18 September 2024. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  21. ^ Cite error: The named reference lh10 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  22. ^ Meret 2010, p. 186.
  23. ^ Campbell 1995, p. 184.
  24. ^ Bischof, Günter; Plasser, Fritz (2008). The changing Austrian voter. Transaction Publishers. pp. 105–106. ISBN 978-1-4128-0751-7.
  25. ^ "Heinz-Christian Strache: FPÖ-Chef tritt nach Skandal-Video zurück". Der Spiegel (in German). 18 May 2019. ISSN 2195-1349. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  26. ^ "Austria conservatives win most votes in snap election while far right suffer losses". The Local Austria. 29 September 2019. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  27. ^ Dean, Sarah; Kottasová, Ivana (29 September 2019). "One of the world's youngest leaders returns in Austria after scandal brought his government down". CNN. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
  28. ^ "Hungary's Orban announces plan to form new far-right bloc in EP". Euronews. 30 June 2024. Retrieved 30 June 2024.


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