The Schüssel I government
In the 1999 election, Schüssel's ÖVP finished third, trailing Jörg Haider's Freedom Party (FPÖ) by 415 votes. After a series of talks to renew the grand coalition with the SPÖ failed, Schüssel sought a coalition with the Freedom Party.
Jörg Haider, as leader of the larger party, would typically have been the presumptive chancellor, with Schüssel remaining vice chancellor. However, it was apparent that Haider was too controversial to serve in the government, let alone lead it. The FPÖ thus agreed to support Schüssel as chancellor, and Haider did not join the cabinet. Schüssel was sworn in on 4 February 2000, with Haider's successor as FPÖ leader, Susanne Riess-Passer, as vice chancellor. His government was the first in 30 years not to be led by the SPÖ.
Schüssel's government was immediately highly controversial due to the inclusion of the Freedom Party. Schüssel was perceived as having breached the long-standing cordon sanitaire against right-wing populist parties in Europe. This and the association of Haider with the government sparked widespread criticism both domestically and internationally. The Guardian reported that, during the decisive days of Schüssel's negotiations, caretaker Chancellor Viktor Klima had "urged fellow EU leaders to help influence the coalition bargaining."
The ÖVP had been a member of every government from 1945 to 1970 and from 1986 onwards, but even in opposition had never been completely excluded from power. The post-war tradition of consensus-building meant that representatives of all major interest groups in the country were to be consulted before any policy was enacted. Schüssel, however, broke with that tradition in order to rapidly implement the reforms he felt necessary. This was received poorly by many Austrians, who considered the consensus-building approach to be an unwritten part of the constitution. Between 2000 and 2002, there were weekly protests throughout Vienna against the government, dubbed the Donnerstagsdemonstrationen (Thursday demonstrations).
The Schüssel government was received poorly by governments internationally, including those of the fourteen other European Union member states, due to its cooperation with the FPÖ. An initiative was organised, with encouragement from much of the Austrian left-wing, to express international disapproval. Because nothing in the legal framework of the European Union enabled official action to be taken, informal "sanctions" were imposed – for several months, many other national leaders engaged in social and diplomatic ostracism of the Schüssel government, refusing any unnecessary interaction. Participants included French President Jacques Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, and leading Belgian politicians. Government supporters frequently blamed the SPÖ and President Thomas Klestil for this campaign, accusing them of disloyalty to Austria.
After several months without any change in the situation, a delegation of high-ranking EU diplomats – Martti Ahtisaari, Marcelino Oreja and Jochen Frowein – was sent to Austria to examine the political situation and determine whether the so-called "sanctions" could be lifted. Their report did not find conditions that would permit EU members to institute any official measures under EU law, but did present proposals for how EU law could be modified to resolve such a situation in the future. These proposals were incorporated in the Treaty of Nice, ratified in 2001. Following the report, EU leaders quietly "lifted" the sanctions and returned to normality during the summer of 2000, despite the situation in Austria remaining unchanged.
