Germany's Liberal Party Flirts With the Far Right

The Austrian far-rightist Jörg Haider extended an endorsement to the leadership of Germany's august liberal party yesterday amid claims that it is being hijacked by anti-semitic populists in the run-up to September's general election.

His congratulations will be viewed with profound concern by those, such as the German chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, who have warned that recent successes by anti-immigrant politicians could tempt moderate conservatives to veer to the right.

Jürgen Möllemann, the deputy leader of Germany's traditionally middle of the road Free Democrat party (FDP), had welcomed advances by those such as Mr Haider in Austria and Pim Fortuyn's party in the Netherlands as representing "the emancipation of the democrats".

In an article published yesterday, Mr Möllemann said: "Historians will later write that the start of the third millennium saw a wave of awakening self-confidence among the people of the nations and states of Europe".

The FDP's leader, Guido Westerwelle, stirred initial misgivings at the weekend when he declared that his party would be seeking votes from ex-communists and members of the far-right Republican party at the general election. His deputy published his explosive commentary yesterday in a newspaper that was once the mouthpiece of the East German Communist party. Yet he repeatedly employed the word Volk - people - a term firmly associated with the extreme right.

Today's edition of the Berlin daily Der Tagesspiegel will quote Mr Haider as saying he appreciates Mr Möllemann's analysis of recent events. "For that, he is to be congratulated", Mr Haider said.

The FDP was already involved in a wrangle with Germany's Jewish community over a claim by Mr Möllemann that one of their leaders and the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, were together partly to blame for rising anti-semitism. At the weekend, the chairman of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Paul Spiegel, called it "the biggest insult uttered by a party in the federal republic since the Holocaust".

The 56-year-old Mr Möllemann, a maverick self-publicist who has often stirred controversy and likes to parachute into campaign rallies, has so far refused to apologise.

Other leading members of the FDP have deplored his recent utterances. The party's deputy chairman, Wolfgang Döring, said a change of direction could be "catastrophic".

Hans-Dietrich Genscher, a former foreign minister and member of the Free Democrats, said the programme adopted by the party at its congress in Mannheim earlier this month was "modern and open to the world". He added: "Whoever wants a different sort of FDP ought to have said so at Mannheim."

Observers in the German-speaking world have been struck by the similarity between the process which is alleged to be taking place in the FDP and that which brought Mr Haider to prominence. His Freedom party, which came into power in a coalition with the conservatives two years ago, originally belonged to the centre.

The FDP is one of Germany's most venerable parties, having taken part in most governments since the second world war as a partner of either the Christian or Social Democrats. But in 1998, it was ousted from office when Mr Schröder opted to govern in alliance with the Greens. Until recently, the FDP was most closely associated with free-market economics.

Polls show the FDP heading for government in coalition with the Christian Democrats.