Freedom Party of Austria Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs | |
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Abbreviation | FPÖ |
Chairman | Herbert Kickl |
Secretaries-General | |
Leader in the National Council | Herbert Kickl |
Leader in the EP | Harald Vilimsky |
Founder | Anton Reinthaller |
Founded | 7 April 1956 |
Preceded by | Federation of Independents |
Headquarters | Theobaldgasse 19/4 A-1060 Vienna |
Newspaper | Neue Freie Zeitung |
Student wing | Ring Freiheitlicher Studenten |
Youth wing | Ring Freiheitlicher Jugend |
Membership (2017) | 60,000 |
Ideology | |
Political position | Far-right[A][2] |
European affiliation | Patriots.eu |
European Parliament group |
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International affiliation |
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Colours | Blue |
Anthem |
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National Council | 30 / 183 |
Federal Council | 16 / 61 |
Governorships | 0 / 9 |
State cabinets | 3 / 9 |
State diets | 78 / 440 |
European Parliament | 6 / 19 |
Party flag | |
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Website | |
fpoe | |
^ A: Before its rightward shift, it was classified as a centre to centre-right party,[4] supporting national liberalism and pan-Germanism from 1956 to 1986. |
The Freedom Party of Austria[a] (German: Freiheitliche Partei Österreich, FPÖ) is a national-conservative,[6][7] right-wing populist, eurosceptic and far-right[8][9][10] [11][12][13][14][15] political party in Austria. It has been led by Herbert Kickl since 2021. It is the third largest of five parties in the National Council, with 30 of the 183 seats, and won 16.2% of votes cast in the 2019 legislative election and it is represented in all nine state legislatures. On a European level, the FPÖ is a founding member of the Identity and Democracy Party 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.[16] 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).[17][18][19] The FPÖ gave external support to SPÖ chancellor Bruno Kreisky (SPÖ) after the 1970 election and joined Fred Sinowatz's government, as 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 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.[20] The resulting snap election saw the FPÖ fall to 16.2% and return to opposition.[21][22] On 30 June 2024, the ANO 2011, the Freedom Party of Austria, and the Fidesz, created a new alliance named Patriots for Europe.[23]
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