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Haider Warns Of Early Polls Amid Austrian Coalition Crisis
Vienna (AFP) Jan 24, 2002 Austrian far-right strongman Joerg Haider warned Wednesday of early legislative elections this spring amid a dramatic deepening of a crisis in the controversial coalition government over EU expansion. The former leader of the Freedom Party, a partner in the coalition, made the comments shortly after conservative Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel said he did not made want new elections, but would not fear them. "If he wants to end the coalition then it can be ended, because it is not in our government program that supporting EU enlargement is the core of our coalition. Rather our core priority is to work for Austrians," Haider said. Asked on national radio when early elections could take place, he said: "They would take place in the spring," adding: "We will not let ourselves be threatened." Haider, who was speaking in his southern fiefdom of Carinthia, added that he was due to talk to Schuessel by telephone later in the day. The crisis has snowballed since the announcement Monday that 915,000 Austrians signed a national petition organized by the Freedom Party demanding the closure of a controversial nuclear power plant just over the border in the Czech Republic, or threatening to block Prague's EU entry. The Freedom Party and Schuessel's conservative People's Party have shared power since February 2000, and the next elections are not scheduled until September 2003.
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