A read ahead: From CAS XVI 

Peter Gerlich

Europeanization in disguise

Die internationalen Entwicklungen haben die österreichische Politik stärker beeinflusst, als man in der Hektik des Tagesgeschehens wahrnimmt.
– Gerfried Sperl

If it is true that political systems demonstrate their dominant characteristics during election time, one has to conclude that the political system of Austria has not yet arrived in Europe. Looking at the process of the 2006 election in a broader sense, at the campaign, at the actual voting and at the negotiations leading to the formation of a new government, one can observe trends toward an Americanization and possibly a Reaustrification of Austrian politics, but hardly any orientation towards the European Union or towards patterns of politics in other member states.
All observers agree that the 2006 campaign was characterized by an import of experts, strategies and techniques from the United States. That was particularly true for the campaign of the SPÖ.

It closely followed US models up to imitation of television spots from recent American electoral contests, to the application of negative campaign strategies (accusing the representatives of the incumbent government of lying) and to the careful coaching and training of the top candidate, Alfred Gusenbauer, for his appearance in the many television confrontations. In contrast, the campaign of the incumbent Peoples’ Party tried to rely only on past successes and appeared rather passive and uninspired. Nevertheless even this party as well as the smaller parties tried to organize their campaigns according to the American inspired rules of media politics: they practised personalization, dramatization and scandalization. The campaigns were organized not so much around issues but rather around the top candidates.

Maybe it was a weakness of the ÖVP campaign that chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel participated only in a few of the many television confrontations and allowed himself to be represented by other politicians in others. A sense of drama was heightened by carefully trying to manipulate the continuing political show in order to represent ones own candidates in the best way. Great emphasis was placed on the emotionalization of issues and conflicts. Continuing references to failures and problems of one’s contenders served the need of the media for the daily scandal.

It was remarkable to observe how the issues raised were not only not the most pressing let alone the most relevant problems which the country faced (like for example politics discussed or promoted by the European Union) but that campaign issues rather seemed to appear almost by chance. Some of the controversies were on the size of school classes or on that of university tuitions, obviously related to the fact that the campaign did take place while schools and universities happened to start their respective academic years. Likewise the issue of illegal foreign helpers in the private care of old people was raised practically by chance because of a letter to the editor of a newspaper which alleged that such help had been used by the family of chancellor Schüssel.

A Europeanization of the electoral campaign would not only have meant that elections in other European countries rather than in America should have served as models but specially also that issues decided on the level of the EU should have been made central issues. That did, however, not happen except in very negative and populist anti-European ways by the smaller right wing parties.

The outcome of the election surprised almost everyone. It certainly was constituted first a defeat for pollsters, journalists and many other partly self-declared experts who had predicted that Schüssel’s ÖVP would be ahead. While both big parties lost votes, the ÖVP admittedly more than the SPÖ, the real winners in terms of seats gained were the Greens (who managed to achieve the third place) as well as the FPÖ. The SPÖ, however, undoubtedly managed to dominate on election  eve by successfully defining itself as the winner.

All kinds of expert theories were brought forward by commentators to explain the rather unexpected result. The most plausible reason seemed simply to be that voters as so often before and in other systems had decided not so much for a new government but rather against the old one. But the definition of the election result as a victory for the SPÖ once again had more than a touch of American-inspired media management to it. A European orientation would have prepared the public for the unavoidable next phase, namely the negotiation to form a new government coalition.
The results did not allow for many possibilities.

If one wanted to form a coalition of only two parties, only the traditional Austrian model of a grand coalition seemed possible. After some back and forth other possibilities (three party coalitions) were rejected. The country visibly seemed to relax, as the two main parties, carefully promted by the Federal President, Heinz Fischer, agreed to try the old pattern again. And now it became painfully apparent that the SPÖ victory was not so clear after all. Gusenbauer was not able to make his new partner accept most of his campaign promises to the great dissatisfaction of his followers. While in public opinion the ÖVP had lost the election it most certainly had won the game of forming a government occupying the most important seats in the cabinet and getting a government program mutually accepted that contained most of its own political priorities.

In the formation of a grand coalition government holding a 70% majority in the National Council a certain Reaustrification of Austrian politics can be observed. This Reaustrification also found its expression in the reemergence of the traditional weaknesses of this traditional form of government: a careful divisions of mutual spheres of influence, continuous public attacks against the other party in the sense of “Bereichsopposition”, as well as the inability to tackle big problems, even if one has so far to give the new government the benefit of doubt on that. If one remembers the performance of previous grand coalition governments, an eventual breakup of the coalition and an early new election seems not very unlikely as soon as really difficult decisions will have to be made. One influencial journalist maintained that by making a grand coalition the only viable possibility the Austrian electorate had voted for a political standstill.

In one sense, however, one could say that the new government implies a Europeanization of Austrian politics after all. Since the priorities in most policy areas are set in Brussels (many observers estimate, that as much as 70% of political decisions relevant for Austria are taken there) the government has now returned to face this reality. It does not do so frontstage – there is a tendency to criticize the EU in the Austrian public – but backstage day to day negotiations with Brussels have been resumed and the government is acting accordingly, trying to in fact forget some of its campaign promises or trying to sell different policies as if they did fulfil these promises.

To sum up one could say that while the 2006 election and to some extent its results were dominated by a trend towards Americanization, the formation of a government and its mechanisms show a trend towards Reaustrification, a tendency to return to traditional patters of Austrian politics with all their strengths and weaknesses. But behind that looms the fact that for a small member state of the European Union there is no alternative to following the European line. A Europeanization of the Austrian political system does take place, but it does not show on the outside, is rarely discussed publicly, and it is not apparent during the electoral process. Maybe that is one of the reasons why the approval rates for the EU in Austria are the lowest of those of all EU member states.


References
Hofer, T./ Toth, B. (eds.), Wahl 2006, Wien 2007.
Plasser, F./ Ulram. P.A. (eds.), Wahlverhalten in Bewegung, Wien 2003.
Rosenberger, S.K./ Seeber, G., Kopf an Kopf, Meinungsforschung im Medienwahlkampf, Wien 2003.
Sperl, G, Die umgefärbte Republik, Wien 2003.