Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06VIENNA663
2006-03-03 15:55:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Vienna
Cable title:
SOCIAL DEMOCRAT ENDS COALITION WITH HAIDER IN
how-toVZCZCXRO7207 RR RUEHAG RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG DE RUEHVI #0663 0621555 ZNR UUUUU ZZH R 031555Z MAR 06 FM AMEMBASSY VIENNA TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2592 INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS VIENNA 000663
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/AGS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM AU
SUBJECT: SOCIAL DEMOCRAT ENDS COALITION WITH HAIDER IN
CARINTHIA
THIS MESSAGE IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.
UNCLAS VIENNA 000663
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/AGS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM AU
SUBJECT: SOCIAL DEMOCRAT ENDS COALITION WITH HAIDER IN
CARINTHIA
THIS MESSAGE IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.
1. (SBU) SUMMARY: On February 28, new Carinthian Social
Democratic (SPO) leader Gabi Schaunig ended the two-year
old state-level coalition with Governor Joerg Haider's
BZO and called for snap elections. Schaunig accused
Haider of repeatedly sabotaging agreements with her SPO,
most recently over social policy. Haider initially vowed
to remain in office, but later mused about holding early
elections in Carinthia simultaneously with national
elections due by fall 2006. The national SPO viewed the
end of the BZO-SPO state coalition with relief. From the
beginning, the national SPO leadership considered the
unusual alliance of its state chapter with Haider's BZO
an embarrassment. End summary.
2. (SBU) Schaunig's truculent attitude toward Governor
Joerg Haider was popular with her colleagues and helped
propel her to the Carinthian state party chairmanship in
November 2005. On February 28, following repeated turf
wars with Haider over social policy legislation, Schaunig
accused Haider of systematically breaking agreements and
making backroom deals with the state People's Party
(OVP). She terminated the coalition with Haider's
Alliance Future Austria (BZO) and announced her party
would move for early elections on March 9.
3. (SBU) In fact, BZO deputies can defeat any motion for
new elections by walking out of the state legislature,
ensuring the measure will fail for lack of a quorum.
Haider accused Schaunig of "acting like a prima donna,"
speculating that she was positioning herself as a
candidate for minister in a future SPO-led coalition. He
initially dismissed Schaunig's call for snap elections,
vowing to serve out his full term until 2009. Later,
however, Haider mused about calling state elections for
the same day as national polls due in fall 2006.
4. (SBU) COMMENT: It usually does not pay to take
Haider's musings too seriously, but he has always been a
risk taker. For him, agreeing to new state elections
would likely become the political equivalent of a queen
sacrifice -- giving up his governorship in a last-ditch
attempt to stave off annihilation of his BZO in the
federal elections. For national SPO party chairman
Gusenbauer, the break-up of the SPO-BZO pact in Carinthia
brings welcome relief from the embarrassment over the so-
called "Chianti coalition," forged in 2004 between Haider
and Schaunig's predecessor over a glass of Italian wine.
McCaw
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/AGS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM AU
SUBJECT: SOCIAL DEMOCRAT ENDS COALITION WITH HAIDER IN
CARINTHIA
THIS MESSAGE IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.
1. (SBU) SUMMARY: On February 28, new Carinthian Social
Democratic (SPO) leader Gabi Schaunig ended the two-year
old state-level coalition with Governor Joerg Haider's
BZO and called for snap elections. Schaunig accused
Haider of repeatedly sabotaging agreements with her SPO,
most recently over social policy. Haider initially vowed
to remain in office, but later mused about holding early
elections in Carinthia simultaneously with national
elections due by fall 2006. The national SPO viewed the
end of the BZO-SPO state coalition with relief. From the
beginning, the national SPO leadership considered the
unusual alliance of its state chapter with Haider's BZO
an embarrassment. End summary.
2. (SBU) Schaunig's truculent attitude toward Governor
Joerg Haider was popular with her colleagues and helped
propel her to the Carinthian state party chairmanship in
November 2005. On February 28, following repeated turf
wars with Haider over social policy legislation, Schaunig
accused Haider of systematically breaking agreements and
making backroom deals with the state People's Party
(OVP). She terminated the coalition with Haider's
Alliance Future Austria (BZO) and announced her party
would move for early elections on March 9.
3. (SBU) In fact, BZO deputies can defeat any motion for
new elections by walking out of the state legislature,
ensuring the measure will fail for lack of a quorum.
Haider accused Schaunig of "acting like a prima donna,"
speculating that she was positioning herself as a
candidate for minister in a future SPO-led coalition. He
initially dismissed Schaunig's call for snap elections,
vowing to serve out his full term until 2009. Later,
however, Haider mused about calling state elections for
the same day as national polls due in fall 2006.
4. (SBU) COMMENT: It usually does not pay to take
Haider's musings too seriously, but he has always been a
risk taker. For him, agreeing to new state elections
would likely become the political equivalent of a queen
sacrifice -- giving up his governorship in a last-ditch
attempt to stave off annihilation of his BZO in the
federal elections. For national SPO party chairman
Gusenbauer, the break-up of the SPO-BZO pact in Carinthia
brings welcome relief from the embarrassment over the so-
called "Chianti coalition," forged in 2004 between Haider
and Schaunig's predecessor over a glass of Italian wine.
McCaw