Austria’s Government
November 14, 2008

RADIO 2CBA FOCAL POINT COMMENTARY Feb 11th 2000

Every cloud apparently has a silver lining. This may be even true of the controversy surrounding the new Government in Austria.

The international community has been very critical of the inclusion of the extreme right-wing party in the new Austrian government. Jorg Haider, the leader of the Freedom Party, has praised Nazi German policies.

The Austrian President, Thomas Klestil, is well aware of the problem of having the Freedom Party in the Austrian government. His distaste for the party is clear.

The rallies in Austria show that many other Austrians are also aware of this problem. Indeed, I was in Vienna last December and it was clear to me that many Austrians were disturbed by the Freedom Party’s extreme views.

However, there may be a bright spot in all this controversy. Dr Ilias Bantekas of the University of Westminster in London has written a very stimulating article for the American Society of International Law which offers a new angle on this crisis. The American Society of International Law is the world’s most important professional organization for international lawyers.

Dr Bantekas has recalled all the international reaction to the events in Austria. Then he ends the article: “It is perhaps possible that at a European Union level we are witnessing the emergence of a customary obligation of democratic governance. Such an obligation is assumed by a country’s membership of the European Union”.

Dr Bantekas suggests that if countries want to stay in the European Union – or presumably to join it – they have to meet a certain standard of good government.

This is a different era from the time when a government could claim that its human rights matters were its own affairs and that no other government could criticize it. Now the European Union governments expect that their fellow governments to have certain standards. They will not turn a blind eye to what is going on among their allies.

By implication, Austria has accepted that it is playing on a different wicket because the president has not told other governments to keep out of Austria’s internal affairs (which one could expect from the old international law principle of governments not interfering in the internal affairs of other governments).

On the contrary, the new Austrian government has tried to convince its fellow European Union governments of its democratic aspirations.

This progress is, of course, very different from the regional organization immediately to our north. The Association of South East Asian Nations does not comment upon the internal affairs of its members. It does turn a blind eye to all sorts of human rights violations.

That Association could learn from the progress being in Western Europe on how governments are having to get used to operating at higher standards of behaviour, particularly in regard to respect for human rights.

BROADCAST ON FRIDAY Feburary 11th, 2000 ON RADIO 2CBA FM.