TWELVE months ago Europe’s left sighed with relief after Alexander Van der Bellen, a Green, saw off the far-right Freedom Party’s (FPO’s) Norbert Hofer to become president of Austria.

The respite has been short-lived, with Mr Van der Bellen approving at the weekend a coalition deal that brings the fascists into government in Vienna after all.

A media that has been at pains to downplay the resurgence of far-right politics across Europe likes to avoid the word fascist. It tends to term the FPO “right-wing populist” or even “pro-Putin.”