Austrians have benefited from lower food prices and greater consumer choice, but there are fears that membership is eroding national identity and independence, and that further expansion eastwards could bring an influx of cheap Czech, Hungarian and Slovene labor. The farming lobby remains apprehensive that EU agricultural policy could endanger the livelihood of many Austrian farmers. Economic recovery Recession in the early 1990s led to a period of slow growth and to rising unemployment. Tight fiscal policies were instituted to enable the country to meet the Maastricht economic convergence criteria for economic and monetary union. One main reason for the rise of the far right, whose leader Jorg Haider has on occasion referred approvingly to aspects of the Hitler regime, is the perception that immigrant labor is taking jobs from Austrians.
Local government is run by the nine provincial assemblies.