Team Stronach

Team Stronach
Leader Frank Stronach
Chairman Robert Lugar
Founder Frank Stronach
Founded 27 September 2012
Headquarters Magna Straße 1
2522 Oberwaltersdorf
Lower Austria
Ideology Euroscepticism[1][2]
Economic liberalism[1][3]
Populism[4][5]
Political position Centre-right[6]
European affiliation None
International affiliation None
Colours Red and white (national colours)
National Council
6 / 183
Federal Council
1 / 62
European Parliament
0 / 18
Website
www.teamstronach.at

The Team Stronach, full name Team Stronach for Austria (German: Team Stronach für Österreich), is a Eurosceptic[7][8] and right-wing populist[9] political party in Austria founded by and named after Austrian-Canadian businessman Frank Stronach. The new party was registered on 25 September 2012,[10] and was launched two days later.

In a Gallup poll in August 2012, it received 8% of the vote.[11] Five MPs – Gerhard Köfer of the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ), Elisabeth Kaufmann-Bruckberger and Christoph Hagen of the Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ), and independents Robert Lugar and Erich Tadler – have agreed to join the party.[12][13]

Parties with at least three seats are automatically qualified to run in the forthcoming federal election.[14]

The party name, programme, and logo were decided in early September 2012.[15] Köfer has been named as the party's leading candidate for the 2013 state election in Carinthia.[16] In September's Gallup poll, it received 10% of the vote.[15][17]

At the party's campaign launch for the next federal election, the party unveiled a political advertisement featuring personal endorsements for Stronach from Bill Clinton and Larry King.[18][19] By this time, the party polled between 10% and 12%.[18] After the defection of a fifth MP, Stefan Markowitz, Team Stronach was given official party status in the National Council: giving the party €1.4m of state funding and places on parliamentary committees.[20][21]

The party won 11% of the vote in the March 2013 state election in Carinthia, only narrowly falling behind The Greens and the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP). On the same day, Team Stronach won 10% of the vote in the Lower Austria state election, in third place. The result in Lower Austria gave Team Stronach its first seat in the Federal Council, held by Gerald Zelina.

On 29 September 2013 Team Stronach participated for the first time in the elections for the Austrian National Parliament. According to preliminary results Team Stronach got 5.8% of the votes won 11 seats and will be the fifth largest party in the new Austrian parliament.[22]

The party did not contest the 2014 European parliamentary election.[23]

Since the election the party has fallen considerably in the polls. On 3 June 2015, two Stronach members of parliament defected to the ÖVP, leaving the party with nine deputies.[24]

Ideology

Team Stronach supports Austria leaving the Euro currency and introducing an Austrian Euro instead.[25] Although an advisor of Team Stronach suggested later on in an interview with the Austrian economic news magazine "Format" they want to keep the Euro but additionally introduce national currencies.[26]

Unlike some other right-wing anti-Euro parties, Stronach is not as anti-immigration as themselves.[27]

The party advocates cutting bureaucracy and instituting a 25% flat-rate income tax.

Team Stronach supports ending conscription and introducing an all-volunteer army.[3]

Stronach supports democratic reform, including the use of primary elections.[3]

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 Wolfram Nordsieck. "Parties and Elections in Europe: The database about parliamentary elections and political parties in Europe, by Wolfram Nordsieck". Parties-and-elections.eu. Retrieved 2014-04-08.
  2. ↑ Haller, Patricia (8 September 2012), "Stronach für fast jeden Dritten wählbar", Kurier (in German)
  3. 1 2 3 "30 Seiten "Grundsatzprogramm"", Der Standard (in German), 27 September 2012
  4. ↑ Dargent, Ralf (3 October 2012), ""Maischberger": Neben Österreichs Populisten ist Sarrazin ein Bube", Die Welt
  5. ↑ Hoffmann-Ostenhof, Georg (29 September 2012), "Stronach die Daumen drücken!", Profil online
  6. ↑ Oliver Gruber (2014). Campaigning in Radical Right Heartland: The politicization of immigration and ethnic relations in Austrian general elections, 1971-2013. LIT Verlag Münster. p. 83. ISBN 978-3-643-90517-8.
  7. ↑ Mark Allinson (30 October 2014). Germany and Austria Since 1814. Routledge. p. 206. ISBN 978-1-4441-8652-9.
  8. ↑ Stijn van Kessel (18 February 2015). Populist Parties in Europe: Agents of Discontent?. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 35. ISBN 978-1-137-41411-3.
  9. ↑ Eric Micklin (2015). "The Austrian Parliament and EU Affairs: Gradually Living Up to its Legal Potential". In Claudia Hefftler; Christine Neuhold; Olivier Rosenberg; et al. The Palgrave Handbook of National Parliaments and the European Union. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 389. ISBN 978-1-137-28913-1.
  10. ↑ ""Team Stronach für Österreich" als Partei angemeldet". Der Standard (in German). 25 September 2012.
  11. ↑ "Austrian magnate's new party wants to dump euro". The Irish Times. 23 August 2012. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
  12. ↑ "Stronach-Partei: Gerüchte um vierten Mandatar "falsch"". Die Presse (in German). 26 August 2012. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  13. ↑ "Zerfallserscheinungen beim BZÖ". Kurier (in German). 12 October 2012. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  14. ↑ "Antritt gesichert: Stronach holt dritten Mandatar an Bord". Die Presse (in German). 23 August 2012. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  15. 1 2 "Stronach-Partei: Logo, Name & Personal fix". oe24.at (in German). 14 September 2012. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  16. ↑ "Stronach-Partei tritt in Kärnten an, Köfer wird Spitzenkandidat". Der Standard (in German). 28 August 2012. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  17. ↑ "SPÖ liegt in Umfragen klar vorne". Die Presse (in German). 17 September 2012. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
  18. 1 2 "Billionaire launches eurosceptic party". News.com.au. 28 September 2012. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
  19. ↑ Tirone, Jonathan (27 September 2012). "Stronach Leaves Thoroughbreds to Join Austrian Vote Race". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
  20. ↑ "Team Stronach anerkannt: Jetzt sechs Klubs im Parlament". Die Presse (in German). 8 November 2012. Retrieved 10 November 2012.
  21. ↑ "Eurosceptic tycoon secures place in Austrian parliament". Reuters. 8 November 2012. Retrieved 10 November 2012.
  22. ↑ (German) Wahlkartenauszaehlung ORF. Temporary results of the Austrian elections, 30 September 2013
  23. ↑ Tom Lansford (7 April 2015). Political Handbook of the World 2015. SAGE Publications. p. 405. ISBN 978-1-4833-7155-9.
  24. ↑ http://derstandard.at/2000016910758/Vetter-und-Franz-wechseln-vom-Team-Stronach-zur-OeVP
  25. ↑ Prodhan, Georgina (27 September 2012). "Eurosceptic billionaire starts Austrian election campaign". Reuters. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
  26. ↑ Schuch, Astrid (15 February 2013). "Stronach-Chefberater Hankel: "Wir behalten den Euro und führen nationale Währungen ein"". Format. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
  27. ↑ Shotter, James. "Stronach sets up Austrian political party".

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