Walter Baier is president of the Party of the European Left. He was chairman of the Communist Party of Austria from 1994–2006 and Coordinator of transform! europe, the think tank of the Party of the European Left, from 2006–21.
After a decade that produced a series of shocks, the European Union seems to have weathered its worst moment of crisis. Yet the EU still suffers a fundamental lack of democracy — and the Left should be in the forefront of demanding its reform.
Austria’s far right has suffered a setback, but it would be a mistake to believe the dynamic they created is broken.