Austria's Haider dies in accident

[Loki]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7664846.stm

Austria's Haider dies in accident

Austrian far-right politician Joerg Haider has been killed in a road accident, police say.

Mr Haider suffered severe head and chest injuries after his car came off the road in Carinthia, his political base.

Police investigating the crash said he had been driving alone.

The 58-year-old was leader of the Alliance for Austria's Future, and was known for his anti-immigration and anti-EU policies.

The Alliance was one of two right-wing parties which did better than expected in general elections last month, fuelling speculation of a possible role in a ruling coalition.
He had reportedly been due to attend his mother's 90th birthday celebrations later in the day.

"For us this is the end of the world," the deputy leader of Mr Haider's Alliance for Austria's Future, Stefan Petzner, told Austrian news agency, APA.

Austria's President Heinz Fischer said Mr Haider's death was a "human tragedy", while Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer described him as someone who had shaped Austria's domestic and political landscape over decades, according to the Associated Press news agency.


EU sanctions

Mr Haider was a divisive figure, who gained notoriety after he became leader of the Freedom Party in 1986.

In 1991, his term as governor of the province of Carinthia was interrupted, after he made comments praising employment policies of Nazi Germany.


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Mr Haider speaking about immigration in September

But he was re-elected in 1999 and 2003.

In 2000, the EU imposed sanctions against Austria in a protest over his party's role in government.

In 2005, Mr Haider left the Freedom Party and founded the Alliance for Austria's Future, which scored its best result so far in elections last month, gaining 11% of the vote.

This was, however, well below the 27% which the Freedom Party won under his leadership in 1999 - a high mark in Mr Haider's electoral career at national level.

"With his passing, Austria has lost a great political figure," said Heinz-Christian Strache, who had taken over as leader of the Freedom Party after Mr Haider left.


JOERG HAIDER: KEY DATES

1950: Born in Upper Austria
1976: Joins Freedom Party
1986: Elected party's leader
1989: Elected governor of Carinthia
2000: Resigns as party leader
2005: Founds Alliance for Austria's Future


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/h...pe/7664846.stm

[Vulpix]

RIP....

I strongly suspect someone did something to his car .

[Harm Wulf]

Haider was freemason and therewith part of the system. Dangerous to the sytem? Come down...

[Vulpix]

Hmm that is news to me... would you care to share your source(s)?

Haider was freemason and therwith part of the system. Dangerous the the sytem? Come down...

[Harm Wulf]

Hmm that is news to me... would you care to share your source(s)?

Sorry, only german sources. I´m sure you´ll find some english ones with google. For the germans here:

Kreuz.net
YouTube
Politik.de

It´s an open secret.

[Sigurd]

Nonetheless, after Leichsenring, Möllemann and Fortuyn it all seems a little suspicious.

It's a good three weeks gone, but I suppose I should just repost that which I posted on Skadi about what I felt when I heard about it.

I was away on a music festival on Friday/Saturday when it happened. A mate of mine who was along said a friend of his had called to tell him that Haider had died. I didn't believe a word, but once the internet, the newspaper and anything else didn't lie, my first reaction was shock.

Even now I just can't believe that it happened ... it may well be that I was a little disappointed with his political career after he left the FPÖ - but he still remained a good Landeshauptmann and probably one of the best politicians Austria's ever had. But first and foremost - I sort of "grew up around" this man:

Coming from a FPÖ family background, my grandparents back in the days, would always be off to see him speak somewhere, and following the news surrounding him for as long as I can think, it just doesn't compute that he is no longer.

I'll never forget the pride I felt as a little boy, less than a dozen years old, for being allowed to sit at the same table at a village-folk-festival and shake his hand, and exchange a few words with the man. Always on and forward, no compromises, he was a sort of political idol for me for most of my childhood.

This is probably the most notable death of a politician we've experienced here in Austria and it's a definite shock that it struck so close to home. Even though my personal acquaintance with the man was sort of "in passing" and even though I haven't really "followed" his path in the last few years (instead remaining more faithful tot the FPÖ I grew up with), I actually feel a deep feeling of loss, bewilderment and just-not-understanding it...

He died on Carinthia's regionally most important holiday, October 10 - in 1920 this was the date that Carinthians decided via plebiscite that they would remain with Austria. For Carinthia's leading politician to pass on at such a day otherwise worthy of celebration ... life's a cynical b*****d.

Rest in peace, Jörg, rest in peace. You will be missed.

Pretty much sums it up. He may not have been the epitome of the textbook Nationalist, but he was a good step towards it and has helped a lot in increasing the support for the drittes Lager.

[Arrow Cross]

His death is a great loss, but I am certain others will carry on his work.

[Thordis]

He wasn't exactly public enemy number one. He split from the FPÖ to form the more politically correct BZÖ. I was pretty disappointed with that and that's when he stopped being my favorite politician, he also supported a Turkish entry in the EU, although he was against Islam still, it was rather for strategical reasons. Nevertheless his death saddened me.

I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't an accident either. The timing of his death is certainly suspicious and politics is a dirty game, where basically anything is possible. The international media always portrayed him as a "nazi" and the like, though he was far from it.

As for the political consequences of his death, I'll repost what I said on Skadi too:

Well, actually Strache announced that BZÖ members of parliament would be more than welcome to join the FPÖ, but that a reunification of the two parties is unlikely. If anything, Haider's death makes it even more unlikely, as it reduces the BZÖ to a party of unknown figures and brings instability in its ranks. The BZÖ was basically "the Haider party", now without Haider the BZÖ is like a Popeless Catholicism.

Another consequence of Haider's death is a closer relation between Austria's two major parties, the SPÖ (social-democrats) and the ÖVP (Austrian People's Party). Haider had shown some interest in a potential alliance between the BZÖ, FPÖ and ÖVP. The aim was to break up the grand coalition. But his death and the instability that follows in the BZÖ has complicated things. The FPÖ aren't so eager to ally themselves with the ÖVP and viceversa. And actually just recently, the SPÖ and the ÖVP stated that they started talks regarding shaping a grand coalition. The need for a new coalition is urgent due to the global crisis.

I don't see the BZÖ having a grand future either. Haider was charismatic and he had talent, it will be hard for the BZÖ to find another of his caliber. Petzner doesn't compare to him and he is still young and inexperienced. Only now he is begining to come "out of the shadow", and not entirely in a positive light, considering the latest press scandals about his alleged "homosexual affair" with Haider. He has barely been named successor and he already ruined it for himself. The FPÖ instead could have a solid path ahead and with Haider's death, Strache remains the number one nationalist figure in Austria.

The BZÖ really doesn't compare to the FPÖ, I mean at some point Haider was even open to the possibility of cooperating with the Greens, the ones most opposed to the right-wing.

[Aragorn]

His death is a great loss, but I am certain others will carry on his work.

Is what we can hope for.

After Fortuyn's assasination, his legacy went gone as snow in May.

So, the source behind the assisanation - not the murderer- did a quite good job dealing with a political openent.