Haider poised for comeback

After three months in Austria's political wilderness, Jörg Haider's far-right, anti-immigration party is poised for a comeback after being invited to talks on playing a part in the next coalition.

The winner of November's Austrian elections, Wolfgang Schüssel, the centre-right Chancellor, said yesterday that he wanted to renew his pact with Mr Haider's Freedom Party, even though their previous two-party coalition collapsed in acrimony. Mr Schüssel won a convincing election victory but has been searching for a coalition partner for three months. Now he says he is ready to form a government with the Freedom Party, whose vote slumped in November, and agreement could be reached as soon as next week.

Mr Haider provoked alarm in Europe by praising Nazi employment policies and defending veterans of the Waffen SS. His party's inclusion in Mr Schüssel's first coalition caused international outrage, and the other 14 EU member states severed political contacts with the Austrian government for seven months.

Mr Schüssel's People's Party leadership agreed late on Thursday to woo Mr Haider's party, which has responded enthusiastically.