Editing History of Austria (section)

=== Recent years ===
The SPÖ–ÖVP coalition persisted until 1999. Austria joined the [[European Union]] in 1995 ([http://www.aeiou.at/aeiou.film.data.film/o254a.mpg Video of the signing in 1994]), and Austria was set on the track towards joining the [[Euro]]zone, when it was established in 1999.

In 1993, the [[Liberal Forum]] was founded by dissidents from the FPÖ. It managed to remain in parliament until 1999.
[[Viktor Klima]] succeeded Vranitzky as chancellor in 1997.

In 1999, the ÖVP fell back to third place behind the FPÖ in the [[1999 Austria legislative election|elections]]. Even though ÖVP chairman and [[Vice Chancellor of Austria|Vice Chancellor]] [[Wolfgang Schüssel]] had announced that his party would go into opposition in that case, he entered into a coalition with the FPÖ—with himself as chancellor—in early 2000 under considerable national and international outcry. [[Jörg Haider]] resigned as FPÖ chairman, but retained his post as [[List of governors of Carinthia|governor]] of [[Carinthia (state)|Carinthia]] and kept substantial influence within the FPÖ.

In 2002, disputes within the FPÖ resulting from losses in state elections caused the [[Knittelfeld Putsch|resignation of several FPÖ government members]] and a collapse of the government. Wolfgang Schüssel's ÖVP emerged as the winner of the [[2002 Austria legislative election|subsequent election]], ending up in first place for the first time since 1966. The FPÖ lost more than half of its voters, but reentered the coalition with the ÖVP. Despite the new coalition, the voter support for the FPÖ continued to dwindle in all most all local and state elections. Disputes between "nationalist" and "liberals" wings of the party resulted in a split, with the founding of a new liberal party called the [[Alliance for the Future of Austria]] (BZÖ) and led by Jörg Haider. Since all FPÖ government members and most FPÖ members of parliament decided to join the new party, the Schüssel coalition remained in office (now in the constellation ÖVP–BZÖ, with the remaining FPÖ in opposition) until the next elections. On 1 October 2006 the SPÖ won a [[2006 Austrian legislative election|head on head elections]] and negotiated a grand coalition with the ÖVP.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2 October 2006 |title=Next prime minister aims to preserve Austria's economy - Europe - International Herald Tribune |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/02/world/europe/02iht-austria.3003223.html |work=The New York Times}}</ref> This coalition started its term on 11 January 2007 with [[Alfred Gusenbauer]] as Chancellor of Austria.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Austria News & Current Events {{!}} Infoplease |url=https://www.infoplease.com/countries/austria/news-and-current-events |work=infoplease.com |language=en}}</ref> For the first time, the [[Green Party of Austria]] became the third-largest party in a nationwide election, overtaking the FPÖ by a narrow margin of only a few hundred votes.

The grand coalition headed by Alfred Gusenbauer collapsed in the early summer of 2008 over disagreements about the country's EU policy. The [[2008 Austrian legislative election|early elections]] held on 28 September resulted in extensive losses for the two ruling parties and corresponding gains for [[Heinz-Christian Strache]]'s FPÖ and [[Jörg Haider]]'s BZÖ (the Green Party was relegated to the 5th position). Nevertheless, SPÖ and ÖVP renewed their coalition under the leadership of the new SPÖ party chairman [[Werner Faymann]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=New Austrian Federal Government Inaugurated |url=https://www.austrianinformation.org/november-december-2008/new-austrian-federal-government-inaugurated.html |work=New Austrian}}</ref> In 2008 [[Jörg Haider]] died in a controversial car accident<ref>{{Cite news |date=11 October 2008 |title=Austrian far-right leader Jörg Haider dies in car crash |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/oct/11/austria-haider |work=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref> and was succeeded as BZÖ party chairman by [[Herbert Scheibner]] and as governor of [[Carinthia (state)|Carinthia]] by [[Gerhard Dörfler]].

In the [[2013 Austrian legislative election|legislative elections of 2013]], SPÖ received 27% of the vote and 52 seats; ÖVP 24% and 47 seats, thus controlling together the majority of the seats. FPÖ received 40 seats and 21% of the votes, while the Greens received 12% and 24 seats. Two new parties, Stronach and the NEOS, received less than 10% of the vote, and 11 and nine seats respectively.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Election Resources on the Internet: Federal Elections in Austria - Nationalrat Results Lookup |url=http://www.electionresources.org/at/nationalrat.php?election=2013 |website=electionresources.org}}</ref>

On 17 May 2016, [[Christian Kern]] from SPÖ was sworn in as new chancellor. He continued governing in a "grand coalition" with ÖVP. He took the office after former chancellor, also from SPÖ, [[Werner Faymann]]'s resignation.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Welle (www.dw.com) |first=Deutsche |date=17 May 2016 |title=Austria's Christian Kern sworn in as new chancellor {{!}} DW {{!}} 17.05.2016 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/austrias-christian-kern-sworn-in-as-new-chancellor/a-19263395 |work=DW.COM}}</ref>

On 26 January 2017, [[Alexander Van der Bellen]] was sworn into as the mostly ceremonial - but symbolically significant - role of Austrian president.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Welle (www.dw.com) |first=Deutsche |date=26 January 2017 |title=Van der Bellen takes office as Austrian president {{!}} DW {{!}} 26.01.2017 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/van-der-bellen-takes-office-as-austrian-president/a-37282299 |work=DW.COM}}</ref>

After the Grand Coalition broke in Spring 2017 a snap election was proclaimed for [[2017 Austrian legislative election|October 2017]]. ÖVP with its new young leader [[Sebastian Kurz]] emerged as the largest party in the National Council, winning 31.5% of votes and 62 of the 183 seats. SPÖ finished second with 52 seats and 26.9% votes, slightly ahead of FPÖ, which received 51 seats and 26%. NEOS finished fourth with 10 seats (5.3 percent of votes), and PILZ (which split from the Green Party at the start of the campaign) entered parliament for the first time and came in fifth place with 8 seats and 4.4% The Green Party failed with 3.8% to cross the 4% threshold and was ejected from parliament, losing all of its 24 seats.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Welle (www.dw.com) |first=Deutsche |date=15 October 2017 |title=Austrian elections: Sebastian Kurz becomes youngest leader {{!}} DW {{!}} 15.10.2017 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/austrian-elections-sebastian-kurz-becomes-youngest-leader/a-40959587 |work=DW.COM}}</ref> The ÖVP decided to form a coalition with the FPÖ. The new government between the centre-right wing and the right-wing populist party under the new chancellor Sebastian Kurz was sworn in on 18 December 2017,<ref>{{Cite news |date=18 December 2017 |title=Muted protests in Vienna as far-right ministers enter Austria's government |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/18/thousands-protest-as-far-right-ministers-enter-government-in-austria |work=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref> but the coalition government later collapsed in the wake of the [[Ibiza affair|“Ibiza” corruption scandal]]<ref>{{Cite news |date=20 May 2019 |title=Austrian government collapses after far-right minister fired |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/20/austrian-government-collapses-after-far-fight-minister-fired |work=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref> and [[2019 Austrian legislative election|new elections]] were called for 29 September 2019. The elections lead to another landslide victory (37.5%) of the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) who formed a coalition-government with the reinvigorated (13.9%) Greens, which was sworn in with Kurz as chancellor on January 7, 2020.<ref>{{Cite news |date=29 September 2019 |title=Austrian elections: support for far-right collapses |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/29/austrian-elections-exit-polls-collapse-far-right-support-sebastian-kurz-victory |work=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref>

On 11 October 2021, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz resigned, after pressure triggered by a corruption scandal. Foreign Minister [[Alexander Schallenberg]] of ÖVP succeeded him as chancellor.<ref>{{Cite news |date=9 October 2021 |title=Sebastian Kurz: Austrian leader resigns amid corruption inquiry |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-58856796 |work=BBC News}}</ref> Following a corruption scandal involving the ruling ÖVP, Austria got its third conservative chancellor in two months after [[Karl Nehammer]] was sworn into office on 6 December 2021. His predecessor Alexander Schallenberg had left the office after less than two months. ÖVP and the Greens continued to govern together.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Welle (www.dw.com) |first=Deutsche |date=6 December 2021 |title=Austria: Karl Nehammer sworn in as new chancellor {{!}} DW {{!}} 06.12.2021 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/austria-karl-nehammer-sworn-in-as-new-chancellor/a-60032938 |work=DW.COM}}</ref>