World

Austria Back On E.U.'s Good Side

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

September 12, 2000 / 12:04 PM EDT / CBS

Austria's 14 European Union partners said in a statement Tuesday that they had agreed to lift diplomatic sanctions imposed on Vienna after the far-right Freedom Party joined the government.

"The measures put in place by the 14 (states) were useful. They can now be lifted," said a joint statement released in Paris under the auspices of the French government, which holds the EU's rotating presidency.

However, it added that the Freedom Party (FPO)—whose dominant figure is Carinthia state governor Joerg Haider—remained cause for "serious concern" and that the 14 partners believed it was necessary to remain "especially vigilant" on both the party and the influence it exerted on the Austrian government.

The European Union clamped a diplomatic quarantine on Vienna in February when the FPO, which was regarded as racist and xenophobic, joined a government coalition with Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel's People's Party.

Haider, who stepped down as the Freedom Party's leader in May, had long been criticized for remarks made years ago praising the "orderly" full employment policies of Adolf Hitler, and calling Waffen SS veterans "men of honor."

Under the unprecedented but largely symbolic sanctions, Austria's E.U. partners broke off bilateral political contacts with the country, restricted the promotion of Austrians at E.U. headquarters in Brussels and cold-shouldered Austrian ministers attending E.U. meetings. The diplomatic measures also included boycotts of school trips, cultural exchanges and military exercises.

Although the measures had little impact on ordinary Austrians, they triggered a backlash among the Austrian public, which considered them an affront to the nation.

The measures also led to an outcry in Denmark and other small EU countries fearful of domination by France, Germany and other major EU powers. Political leaders in some former communist countries seeking EU membership, such as Poland and the Czech Republic, complained that imposing sanctions on a democratic government represented a violation of sovereignty.

The move to end the sanctions followed the release last week of a report by three E.U. "wise men" that gave Austria's government a clean bill of health on human rights, although it criticized some statements by FPO leaders.

The committee concluded that the sanctions "already triggered nationalistic feelings in Austria" primarily because they were seen as directed against the Austrian people rather than the government.

The report also said the measures had become "counterproductive" and should be ended. It found that Austria was "respectful of common European values" and had demonstrated respect for the rights of immigrants, refugees and minorities.

Schuessel hailed the decision to lift the measures as "a great success for Austria."

Vice Chancellor Susanne Riess-Passer, the current leader of the Freedom Party, said a "darchapter has ended."

She added that the decision to end the sanctions affirmed that citizens of individual EU member states "have the right to determine their own government."

Finnish Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen said in a newspaper column published Tuesday that although he agreed with the call for the lifting of the sanctions, this did not mean the measures had been fruitless.

Lipponen said the experience had taught Europe that it was important to exercise great caution in political decisions affecting a single country.

"At the same time it made clear that no one can leave their backyard untended without bearing responsibility for it," he said in a reference to Austria.

Schuessel rejected suggestions in the report by the "wise men" that the sanctions had encouraged his government to behave better than it might have otherwise.

It would have pursued exactly the same policies on treatment of ethnic groups—praised by the report—and compensating wartime victims of Nazi slave labor without outside pressure, he said.