Portal:Austria/Selected article/21

The Freedom Party of Austria (German: Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, FPÖ) is a political party in Austria, variously described as far-right, right-wing populist, national-conservative, eurosceptic and russophile. It has been led by Herbert Kickl since 2021. It is the largest of five parties in the National Council, with 57 of the 183 seats, and won 28.85% of votes cast in the 2024 election and it is represented in all nine state legislatures. On a European level, the FPÖ is a founding member of the Patriots.eu (originally the Movement for a Europe of Nations and Freedom) 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. 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). The FPÖ gave external support to SPÖ chancellor Bruno Kreisky (SPÖ) after the 1970 election and joined Fred Sinowatz's government, as the SPÖ's junior partner, after the 1983 election. (Full article...)