German nationalism in Austria an independent Austria, rejected his merger proposal, Strasser said "Don't talk to me about Austria. There is no Austria ... there was once a living corpse which called itself Austria ... that this Austria collapsed in 1918 was a blessing ... particularly for the German people, who were thereby given the chance to create a Greater Germany." After this, tensions between the Nazis and Austrofascists worsened, culminating in the July Putsch of 1934, when Nazis attempted to overthrow the government. Whilst they managed to assassinate chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss, the putsch was quickly crushed by the police, army, and Heimwehren. In
1996 European Parliament election in Austria 1996 European Parliament election in Austria The European Parliament election of 1996 in Austria was the election of the delegation from Austria to the European Parliament in 1996. In 1996, Austria was a country with a population of 7.9 million (5.8 million voters). The federal government was a "grand coalition" of the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) and the Christian Democratic Party (ÖVP) and was led by Chancellor Franz Vranitzky. At the last national election in 1995, the parties obtained the following results: SPÖ: 38.1%, ÖVP: 28.3%, FPÖ: 21.9%, Liberals: 5.5% and Greens: 4.8%. An asterisk (*) indicates Members standing for