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Concept
Alliance for the Future of Austria
Summary
The Alliance for the Future of Austria (Bündnis Zukunft Österreich; BZÖ) is a right-wing populist, national conservative political party in Austria.
The BZÖ was founded on 3 April 2005 by Jörg Haider as a moderate splinter from the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) and immediately took the FPÖ's place in coalition with the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP). The party won seven seats at the 2006 election, ending its involvement in government. The September 2008 election saw the BZÖ breakthrough with 21 seats, while the FPÖ's vote also increased. Thirteen days after the election, Haider died in a car crash; in April 2009, Josef Bucher became leader. Under Bucher's leadership, the party moved towards economic liberalism, leading to the secession of the party's Carinthia branch to form the Freedom Party in Carinthia in December 2009.
Under Bucher, the party became economically liberal and socially conservative. The party aims to take ground from the ÖVP by defending the middle class and free markets: supporting a flat tax (currently a model with 44% which exists as calculator tool on the party's website), privatisation of utilities, and large reductions in both bureaucracy and the government debt. The party takes a more moderate position than the FPÖ on immigration – proposing the introduction of a 'green card' – and is in some ways 'eurosceptic'. Unlike the FPÖ, the BZÖ is notable for the reintroduction of tuition fees, abandoning conscription and the adoption of a system of Common Security and Defence Policy in the European Union.
The BZÖ was founded as the result of considerable disagreements within the Freedom Party between Jörg Haider, the Freedom Party's chair person Ursula Haubner and Vice Chancellor Hubert Gorbach on the one side and the circle around Heinz-Christian Strache, Andreas Mölzer, and Ewald Stadler on the other. The former group broke off and founded the new party in order to distance themselves from the right.
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