The reaction to the referedum call and the coalition breakup has been reported, and the background briefly discussed, in the 8 July Salon. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
generic:
The newspaper in question is Austria's leading tabloid which has a modus operandi similar to the Murdoch-press. Basically it bashes immigrants and Brussels for a living and was instrumental in the rise of the FPÖ. Given its abysmal performance since the election it seems that the SPÖ was running for cover and inadvertently gave the ÖVP an excuse to break the coalition.
An interesting subtext of this election is that Faymann seems to be chummy with the owner of the Kronen Zeitung. See e.g. his German wiki.
I'd thought we'd get over this aspect of Blairism, but looking at Sarkozy and Faymann, it seems eeehm, press relations (relations in the press) are still vitally important.
