Austrian Right-Winger Stirs Up Italy

Self-proclaimed "Angel of Peace" Joerg Haider ended an Italian visit Sunday with parting jabs at Italy's leaders as "weak" and at immigrants as unwanted, heading home after a widely-criticized audience with Pope John Paul II that sparked a stone-throwing, teargas-laden protest near St. Peter's.

"I repeat what I believe: Everyone has a right to a dignified existence, but in their own country," the far-right Austrian politician was quoted as saying in a combative trip-closing interview Sunday in Rome's La Repubblica daily, adding, "Ever more people are thinking like I do."

Italy's center-left government made clear how unwelcome any return visit would be:

"Haider's presence in our country is not desirable," Luciano Violante, president of the Chamber of Deputies, said Sunday, faulting what he called Haider's "rude, discourteous manner" in verbal clashes with Italy's leaders over immigration before and during the trip.

Haider checked out of his hotel near St. Peter's at midday, after assisting at a Mass at a church catering to Rome's German-speaking Catholic community.

Haider came to Rome as head of a 250-member Austrian delegation that presented John Paul II on Saturday with a Christmas tree for St. Peter's Square.

Haider had dismissed heavy advance criticism of the trip, saying he and his delegations were coming as "angels of peace."

International and Italian Jewish groups, leftist parties and others have faulted John Paul for granting the audience to Haider.

Haider, governor of the southern Carinthia province chosen to donate this year's tree, has been broadly criticized for past remarks sympathetic to aspects of the Nazi regime and for anti-immigrant statements.

His Freedom Party's entry into Austria's government prompted six months of European Union sanctions, lifted only in September.

John Paul made no reference to the controversy over the visit in his remarks to the Austrian delegation, nor apparently in shaking Haider's hand afterward.

Hundreds of a crowd of thousands of protesters tried to storm Saturday's tree-lighting ceremony afterward in St. Peter's Square, which went on with clouds of tear gas wafting toward the crenelated top of nearby Castel Sant'Angelo as demonstrators battled police.

About 30 injuries were reported.

Haider ignored the chaos and shrugged off a silent protest in which Jewish shopkeepers turned off their lights, saying Saturday: "If they want to save electricity, let them do it."

He repeated the remark in Sunday's La Repubblica interview - one devoted mostly to pursuing the ongoing war of words over Italy's border controls, which Haider says are letting too many immigrants into Europe.

Premier Giuliano Amato has promised a formal protest to Austria, saying Haider criticized Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi in an "unacceptable" way in his denunciation of Italy's immigration policies.

"That's nomy problem," Haider told La Repubblica in response, turning full force on Amato, a veteran Italian politician serving his second stint as premier.

"If Amato is nervous and afraid of my declaration, I would say that he's a weak person," Haider said. Since his party was a member of Austria's governing coalition, he added, "My opinion is also that of my government."

He jabbed at Italy's president as well, saying: "I think that Ciampi is afraid to have a confrontation with me on certain themes because he knows that his position is weak."

Haider also added that the Schengen treaty opening borders in Western Europe "isn't working."

At home in Austria, Haider's Freedom Party called his Vatican visit a success.

"Despite the expectations of the opponents of the visit, the pope greeted the Carinthia delegation and the governor most warmly," party secretary-general Peter Sichrovsky said.

In Vienna on Sunday, the Austria Press Agency quoted Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel as praising Haider as a "good governor." Schuessel, in comments taken from an interview with the news magazine Format, said Austria had returned to normal after the political upheaval and EU sanctions.

By Ellen Knickmeyer
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