After years of efforts to clean up the image of Austria's far-right, Heinz-Christian Strache (L) quit Saturday over what he termed a "stupid, irresponsible mistake" (AFP Photo/ALEX HALADA) |
Vienna (AFP) - Heinz-Christian Strache, the man who successfully steered Austria's far-right back into government after years in opposition, has himself been brought down by an explosive corruption scandal.
The
49-year-old was forced to quit Saturday after German media published
hidden-camera footage -- of unknown provenance -- showing him meeting the
purported niece of a Russian oligarch over a boozy dinner in a luxury villa on
the resort island of Ibiza.
After years
of efforts to clean up the image of his Freedom Party (FPOe), founded after
World War II by former Nazis, Strache has now been disgraced by what he termed
a "stupid, irresponsible mistake".
In the
recordings, Strache is seen promising public contracts in return for campaign
help and suggesting he could help bring about staff changes in Austria's
largest-circulation tabloid, the Krone Zeitung, as well as the
part-privatisation of public broadcaster ORF.
For many
observers, the scene seemed to confirm the stereotypes of the party that
Strache had worked so hard to bury: too ready to engage in dubious practices,
too close to Russia, and contemptuous of the free media.
'Mature'
figure
It almost
certainly marks the humiliating end of a political career which had come a long
way in the three decades since Strache was detained by German police at a
torch-lit protest by a group aping the Hitler Youth.
When the
former dental technician, brought up single-handedly by his mother in a lower-middle-class
area of Vienna, took over the FPOe in 2005 aged 35, the movement was a mess.
Joerg
Haider, its controversial but magnetic leader from 1986-2000, had broken off to
form his own party, the movement torn apart by its last spell in government in the
early 2000s.
But
"HC", his striking blue eyes matching the party colours, restored its
fortunes and in elections in 2017, the FPOe won 26 percent -- double the score
of the Alternative for Germany a month earlier.
This gave
Strache, cutting a mature figure in new glasses, a ticket to enter talks to
form a coalition with Sebastian Kurz's conservative People's Party (OeVP).
When the
FPOe last entered government in 2000 under Haider, there was uproar in Europe.
This time,
the reaction was more muted, with Europe more inured to populists and the FPOe
seen as having moderated.
Stream of
controversy
Indeed,
early in Strache's leadership, FPOe posters screamed "Daham statt
Islam" ("Home not Islam") but over the years they became less
shrill and more subtle.
In the 2017
campaign, the main messages were "fairness" -- an elastic term
encompassing everything from lower taxes to scrapping benefits for immigrants
-- and opposition to "Islamisation".
Strache
also moved to clean up the party's image by suspending members for anti-Semitic
behaviour.
However,
since the party's entry into government, it has been dogged by a steady
succession of controversies.
Strache
himself was forced to apologise last year to one of ORF's most prominent
newscasters, Armin Wolf, after sharing a Facebook post accusing the journalist
of spreading "lies" and "fake news".
Other
revelations pointed to extremist sympathies in the party's base, including
links to the Identitarian Movement Austria.
The
appointment of the FPOe's Herbert Kickl as interior minister also sparked fears
among Austria's Western partners over whether information could be leaked to
Moscow.
Observers
say the manner in which Strache has been brought down will raise questions over
the FPOe's future and to what extent his efforts to detoxify the party have
been permanently damaged.
#UPDATE Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz dramatically pulled the plug on his coalition government and announced fresh elections after an explosive camera sting claimed the scalp of his far-right deputy https://t.co/uppuyddsoT— AFP news agency (@AFP) 18 mei 2019
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