Sinowatz SPÖ-FPÖ small coalition — verstaatlichte-crisis management

Doctrine — stated goals and content

Transitional Austrian government after Kreisky's 1983 loss of absolute majority; SPÖ formed its first "kleine Koalition" with the then-liberal-wing FPÖ under Steger. School: late Austro-Keynesian corporatism under strain, gradually pivoting toward market-liberal industrial policy as verstaatlichte-Industrie losses mounted. Left-right axis: centre-left, mildly further right than Kreisky on industrial policy because FPÖ's liberal wing pressed restructuring. Core policy content: (i) management of the 1985 VOEST-Alpine "black week" crisis — ~13bn schilling losses triggered nationalised- industry restructuring plan (VOEST-Alpine trading-scandal discovered November 1985); (ii) 1984 Hainburg Au protests led to cancellation of Danube hydropower plant and Konrad Lorenz-led environmental shift; (iii) 1985 Androsch-Creditanstalt affair; (iv) budget consolidation beginning under Vranitzky's finance portfolio; (v) continued hard-schilling peg. Popularity signals: 1983 election SPÖ 47.7% (lost majority); FPÖ 5.0%. Sinowatz resigned June 1986 after Kurt Waldheim's election as President on disputed Wehrmacht record; Vranitzky took over and, after Haider's September 1986 takeover of FPÖ shifted it right, called November 1986 election forming SPÖ-ÖVP grand coalition. Coherence: low — transitional government managing verstaatlichte collapse, Hainburg environmental break, and Waldheim crisis simultaneously; more a decompression chamber than a coherent programme.