Hungary and democracy in the Angiefied European Union

The most obvious symptom of the failing of the European Union was the replacement of the Italian and Greek governments in 2011 at the demand of the EU to be replaced, without new elections, by "technocratic" governments whose only real task was to collect debts for the banks, i.e., keep payments on their sovereign debt current by slashing government spending and dismantling much of their public social net.

Austerity economics is terrible policy in the middle of a depression, no matter what kind of government is pursuing it.

But a couple of contrasts in the field of democracy are especially telling. In 2000, the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) won a plurality in the national election. The FPÖ was headed by Jörg Haider, then seen as the model "yuppie fascist" in European politics because of his repeated expressions of admiration for various aspects of the Third Reich. We now know that he was more interested in being on TV than in becoming a new Mussolini. He created a split-off party and, in 2008, died in a car wreck after getting drunk with a pal of his at a well-known gay bar in Klagenfurt, the capital of his home state, Carinthia.

But in 2000, the prospect of an Austrian government headed by an admirer of the Third Reich was taken seriously. The EU imposed "diplomatic sanctions" on Austria. Which really weren't terribly harsh. They essentially meant that Austrian diplomats in Europe wouldn't be invited to as many dinner parties as they would normally expect. There was much gnashing of teeth and rending of clothing in Austria about this (figuratively speaking!). But it was a clear statement by the EU nations that democracy was a baseline requirement for participation in the Union. Because they EU was always about political union on the basis of democracy for the purpose of preserving peace in Europe.

And it was effective. Austrian President Thomas Klestil, the head of state, agreed with the FPÖ and the second-place conservative People's Party (ÖVP) that the ÖVP would form the government with the FPÖ as the junior partner, without Haider as a minister in the national government. (Typically, the head of the junior coalition partner gets a Vice Chancellorship and the Foreign Ministry.) When the ministers were selected and formally proposed to Klestil, he rejected two of the FPÖ ministers because of particularly impolitic comments that had made.

In other words, the EU was prepared to defend democracy. The replacement of the Greek and Italian governments for the convenience of the European banks during 2011 had a very different look. And the contrast becomes even more dramatic when we think about what's happening in EU member state Hungary, where an elected government is taking far more drastic steps to establish authoritarian rule there than anything the Austrian government did under the ÖVP/FPÖ coalition.

Paul Krugman has been calling attention to the situation in Hungary under the ruling Fidesz party in his New York Times column and blog. As Charles Hawley reports for Spiegel International,'Democratic Deficiencies' Abound in Hungary 12/21/2011, "Media, churches, the judiciary and even the Hungarian central bank are all to be more tightly controlled by Fidesz officials in government."

What, you haven't heard the EU howling about Hungary abandoning democracy? Me neither. But let's be fair. The EU is expressing concern about some aspects of Fidesz policies. The ones that trample on neoliberal economic orthodoxy:

Meanwhile, Orban's legislative frenzy appears to be ruffling feathers with the European Union once again. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has reportedly written to the Hungarian prime minister asking him to withdraw a proposed law which some say would threaten the Hungarian central bank's independence. "I would forcefully advise you to withdraw two pieces of cardinal law now in front of parliament," Barroso wrote, according to the Hungarian news website origo.hu.

The law would change the bank's management structure and also that of the committee which sets interest rates. Both the EU and the IMF, in Budapest to negotiate measures to help insulate Hungary from the euro crisis, left abruptly last week due to concerns about the law. [my emphasis]

Drastically restricting freedom of speech and the press, curtailing religious freedom, fixing election laws Southern-segregationist style to secure indefinite Fidesz rule - why the bleep should Angela Merkel and her subservient EU bureaucracy care about stuff like that?

But threatening the sacred independence of the central bank, now that's something that has to be dealt with!

Angie and her junior partner Nicolas Sarkozy have transformed the EU. And definitely not in a good way.

The independence of the central bank is a neoliberal fetish. Sound economics as practiced by the Very Serious People who have wrecked the world economy says that the central bank should be independent of direct political control. Which is a good idea up to a point. But it's not the kind of thing that written on some sacred stone tablets of democracy somewhere. One of the problems of the euro is that the European Central Bank (ECB) is that it is independent but required by its (foolishly designed) EU legal framework to concentrate on controlling inflation and not acting as buyer of last resort for eurozone sovereign debt. How a country or the EU establishes the framework for a central bank's operation may be more or less advisable. But only in some extreme situation, such as setting it up to function as organized corruption (see the 19th-century Bank of the United States), is it a matter of basic democratic institutions.

I've never forgiven Walter Russell Mead for ridiculously calling the Cheney-Bush Administration "Jacksonian". And I generally don't think much of his analyses. But (stopped-clock-is-right-twice-a-day), in "Fascist Zombies" From Hungary Threaten EU The National Interest 12/22/2011, he manages to at least say some things that are reasonable, such as, "we are learning in Hungary, [the EU's] resources to defend democracy in an erring member state are not great. ... In Greece the problem is financial; in Hungary it is political."

Of course, Mead seems to approve of the Herbert Hooverish insistence that austerity economics and removing of protection for workers and ordinary citizens from the worst consequences of systemic economic failure are wonderful things. And, in connection with that sentiment, he makes the observation, "If voters refuse to make sensible choices, sooner or later they will lose the power to choose." It's not clear from this just how upset Mead actually is about the attacks on democracy in Hungary or about the EU's failure to do anything about it.

Which brings me to this latest piece of degeneration of politics in Angie's Christian Democratic Union (CDU): CDU-Finanzexperte."Griechen legen Hände in den Schoß und wir zahlen" Die Welt 30.12.2011. Hans Michelbach is head of the German Budestag's (lower house of Parliament) Finance Committee, and thus one of the leading figures on finance questions in Angie's party. He's saying outright that even the government Angie installed in Greece late in 2011 - which was approved by the Greek Parliament in at least technical compliance with democratic and Greek sovereign processes - should just be ousted and replaced by an EU trusteeship!

There was a time, not so long ago, that a senior German politician publicly demanding the ouster of a democratic government in Greece or any other European country would have been a scandal, even cause for an early retirement from politics. There's no indication in the report that Angie endorses Michelbach's demand. But this is the Angiefied CDU. Given her behavior toward Italy and Greece, I actually would not be surprised if she were encouraging this kind of threat against Greece.

What will she threaten to defend democratic institutions in Hungary? Don't hold your breath waiting.

Tags: angela merkel, hungary, jörg haider

Austrian far-right leader Jörg Haider dies

Kurt and Jörg'l: Austrian rightwing "populist" Jörg Haider visiting with then-Austrian President Kurt Waldheim, 1991.

Jörg Haider (1958-2008) caused quite a stir in Austria and beyond in the 1990s with his friendly references to the Third Reich and the SS, but in the end he turned out to be mainly an egotistical clown who liked seeing himself of television. Waldheim was actually around during the Third Reich and was happy to give Haider's "brown" clowning a boost at the time.

Haider was killed on Friday night 10/10/08 early Saturday morning 10/11/08 in a car accident. He lost control of his car and had an accident that totalled his car. He suffered severe head and chest injuries and died on the spot. (Landeshauptmann und BZÖ-Chef Jörg Haider tödlich verunglückt Der Standard 11.10.2008)

I plan to post more on current negotiations for a new government coalition. Here I'll just note that Haider was currently leader of the Bundis Zukunft Österreich (BZÖ) party, which together with his former part the Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs (FPÖ). Haider was currently serving as Landeshauptmann (governor) of the Austrian state Carinthia (Kärnten).

It's hard to guess what this means for the political future in Austria. In the short run, I would be surprised if it changes much. The social democratic (SPÖ) and conservative (ÖVP) are likely to negotiate a new coalition government between themselves. Columnist Hans Rauscher thinks it could increase the power of the far right. With Haider's narcissistic leadership style out of the way, the FPÖ and BZÖ could unite into one party. The BZÖ began in 2005 as a split-off party from the FPÖ. (Hans Rauscher über Jörg Haiders Tod Der Standard 11.10.2008)

If the other parliamentary parties (SPÖ, ÖVP, Greens) play it right, I think the result is more likely to be a reduction in the combined support for the far-right parties. Without Haider's star power, the FPÖ and BZÖ are likely to merge. Without Haider's undoubted star power, the far right has lost one of its strongest vote-getting resources. And the fact that there were two far-right parties in this year's election probably made it easier for some protest voters to select one of the two parties because they could tell themselves that this party is not as bad as the other far-right party.

The two parties did have different political brand identification. The BZÖ has cultivated more a Chamber of Commerce image. The FPÖ promotes more of a, well, beer-drinking thug image.

The BZÖ featured this memorial picture of their fallen leader at their Web site:


Tags: austrian politics, jörg haider

California Recall: More on Arnie and the Hitler Quote

To expand on my earlier post, I do not suggest that we judge Schwarzenegger primarily by some stupid comment he made 28 years ago. The quotation does seem to be well sourced, though Arnold denies having said it.

But in the decades following 1975, he willingly lent some of his Hollywood glitz to two of the most genuinely ugly figures in Austrian politics, former President Kurt Waldheim and the far-right leader and Hitler admirer Jörg Haider. In recent years, he distanced himself from Haider. And, to his credit, in 2000, when there was an international outcry over the inclusion of the Haider-led Freedom Party in Austria's national coalition government, he also criticized the inclusion of Haider's party. But given his vaguely defined political positions, people have reason to worry that Arnold, despite his "moderate Republican" posture, may have quite an authoritarian streak.

And at least according to the polls, that may be an issue of immediate practical concern to Californians soon. The Field Poll, which I understand has the best track record on California elections, is also showing the recall leading by 57%-39%, with Schwarzenegger the leading replacement candidate with a 36%-26% lead over Bustamonte.

Since the recall election is the first of its kind in California, the polling organizations face more uncertainty than usual. Also, the short campaign season compared to the year-long marathon in a normal gubernatorial election could mean that voters' decisions are more in flux than they would normally be this close to the vote. We'll see after the votes are counted which polls did the best measurements.

Tags: california politics, california recall, jörg haider, schwarzenegger

California Recall: Arnie and the Hitler Quote

The "money quote" will be all over the place by Friday morning. Here's ABC's version:

ABCNEWS obtained a copy of an unpublished book proposal with quotes from a verbatim transcript of an interview Schwarzenegger gave in 1975 while making the film Pumping Iron.

Asked who his heroes are, he answered, "I admired Hitler, for instance, because he came from being a little man with almost no formal education, up to power. I admire him for being such a good public speaker and for what he did with it."

He is quoted as saying he wished he could have an experience, "like Hitler in the Nuremberg stadium. And have all those people scream at you and just being total agreement whatever you say."

I was surprised to see that two very partisan Democratic bloggers, Atrios and Hesiod, both kind of shrugged this off.

Come on, guys, this isn't something to fold on. Austrians may not typically have the more cosmopolitan perspective educated Germans might have. But they aren't morons. An Austrian who would say something like that in 1975 knew darn well what he was saying. In fact, if he had said something like that on Austrian television, there would at least be speculation on whether he had violated the country's anti-Nazi laws.

I have a photo from the 08/18/94 issue of Die Presse (Vienna) showing a smiling Schwarzenegger shaking hands with Austrian far-right leader Jörg Haider at the Austrian premiere of Arnold's film True Lies. The story is about the governor of Arnold's home province Styria making a deal with Haider's party over some hopelessly obscure office.

But it reminds me that Haider, notorious for his praise of the Third Reich, has never been publicly quoted as praising Hitler that explicitly. And Haider is a political pariah in most of the European Union for making less admiring comments about Hitler than that.

Austrian society tolerates anti-Semitism more than it should. But anybody that believes that was some harmless comment that any Austrian might have made in 1975 is way off base.

Tags: california politics, california recall, jörg haider, schwarzenegger