Haider won’t serve as chancellor; Schussel will no doubt get the job. Still, the prospect of Haider–a Nazi officer’s son who once called Hitler’s SS “decent fellows” and praised aspects of Nazi “employment policy”–participating in the new government has raised plenty of alarm around the globe. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak recalled his ambassador for consultations and threatened to reconsider relations with Austria, while French President Jacques Chirac expressed “great concern.” Haider recently disavowed his pro-Nazi comments and now calls Hitler’s rule “a cruel and bloody dictatorship.”
