The Team Stronach for Austria (german: Team Stronach für Österreich) was a

Eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies, and seek reform ...

right-wing populist Right-wing populism, also called national populism and right-wing nationalism, is a political ideology that combines right-wing politics and populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti-elitist sentiments, opposition to the Establi ...

political party in Austria This article lists political parties in Austria. Austria has a multi-party system. Of the over 1,100 registered political parties, only few are known to the larger public. Since the 1980s, four parties have consistently received enough votes to g ...

founded by and named after

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

businessman

Frank Stronach Frank Stronach (born 6 September 1932) is an Austrian and Canadian businessman and politician. He is the founder of Magna International, an international automotive parts company based in Aurora, Ontario, Canada, Granite Real Estate, and The ...

. It was dissolved in August 2017.

History

The new party was registered on 25 September 2012, and was launched two days later. In a Gallup poll in August 2012, it received 8% of the vote. Five MPs – Gerhard Köfer of the

Social Democratic Party of Austria The Social Democratic Party of Austria (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs , SPÖ), founded and known as the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (german: link=no, Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei Österreichs, SDAPÖ) unti ...

(SPÖ), Elisabeth Kaufmann-Bruckberger and Christoph Hagen of the Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ), and independents

Robert Lugar Robert Lugar (1773 – 23 June 1855), was a British architect and engineer in the Industrial Revolution. Although born in Colchester, England, Lugar carried out much of his most important work in Scotland and Wales, where he was employed by s ...

and

Erich Tadler The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, or Eirik is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Norse ''* ain ...

– agreed to join the party. Parties with at least three seats are automatically qualified to run in the forthcoming federal election. The party name, programme, and logo were decided in early September 2012. Köfer has been named as the party's leading candidate for the 2013 state election in

Carinthia Carinthia (german: Kärnten ; sl, Koroška ) is the southernmost States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The main language is German language, German. Its regional dialects belong to t ...

. In September's Gallup poll, it received 10% of the vote. At the party's campaign launch for the 2013 federal election, the party unveiled a political advertisement featuring personal endorsements for Stronach from

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

and

Larry King Larry King (born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger; November 19, 1933 – January 23, 2021) was an American television and radio host, whose awards included 2 Peabodys The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program ...

. By this time, the party polled between 10% and 12%. 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. The party won 11% of the vote in the March 2013 state election in

, only narrowly falling behind

The Greens The Greens or Greens may refer to: Current political parties * Australian Greens, also known as ''The Greens'' * Greens of Andorra * Greens of Bosnia and Herzegovina * Greens of Burkina * Greens (Greece) * Greens of Montenegro *Greens of Serbia *G ...

and the

Austrian People's Party The Austrian People's Party (german: Österreichische Volkspartei , ÖVP ) is a Christian-democratic and liberal-conservative political party in Austria. Since December 2021, the party has been led provisionally by Karl Nehammer. It is currentl ...

(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 Lower Austria (german: Niederösterreich; Austro-Bavarian: ''Niedaöstareich'', ''Niedaestareich'') is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Since 1986, the capital of Lower Austria has been Sankt P ...

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. It got 5.73% of the votes and won 11 seats, being the fifth largest party in the new Austrian parliament. The party did not contest the 2014 European parliamentary election. Since the election the party has fallen considerably in the polls. On 3 June 2015, two Stronach members - Georg Vetter and Marcus Franz - of parliament defected to the ÖVP, leaving the party with nine deputies. In August 2017 the planned dissolution of the Team Stronach was announced for after the

legislative election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

. Its MPs changed to the

FPÖ The Freedom Party of Austria (german: Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, FPÖ) is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Austria. It was led by Norbert Hofer from September 2019 to 1 June 2021.Staff (1 June 2021"Aust ...

, the FLÖ and the

Whites White is a racialized classification of people and a skin color specifier, generally used for people of European origin, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, and point of view. Description of populations as " ...

Ideology

The Team Stronach supported Austria leaving the

Euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

currency and introducing an Austrian Euro instead. An advisor of the Team Stronach suggested later in an interview with news magazine "Format" that they wanted to keep the Euro but introduce additional national

currencies A currency, "in circulation", from la, currens, -entis, literally meaning "running" or "traversing" is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general def ...

. Unlike some other right-wing Eurosceptic parties, Stronach was not as opposed to immigration as others. The party advocated cutting bureaucracy and instituting a 25% flat-rate income tax. The Team Stronach supported ending

conscription Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...

and introducing an all-volunteer army instead. Stronach supported electoral reform, including the use of

primary election Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...

Footnotes

External links

Team Stronach official website
{{Political parties in Austria Conservative parties in Austria Political parties established in 2012 Eurosceptic parties in Austria Nationalist parties in Austria Right-wing populism in Austria 2012 establishments in Austria