Austria: New Chancellor Wolfgang Schussel Reaffirms Austria's Eu Status Despite Efforts By Members To Isolate Austria

Record ID: 4193

  • Title: Austria: New Chancellor Wolfgang Schussel Reaffirms Austria's Eu Status Despite Efforts By Members To Isolate Austria
  • Date: 8th February 2000
  • Summary: Austria's new Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel has said his country remained a fully-fledged member of the European Union, despite efforts by its EU partners to isolate it over the presence of the far right in government. Speaking after chairing his first full cabinet meeting in the parliament building, which was guarded by a large force of police, the conservative leader said on February 8, Austria, would not let itself be treated like a pariah. Schuessel heads a government made up of equal numbers of ministers from his own conservative People's Party and Joerg Haider's far-right Freedom Party. Haider, best known for remarks playing down the crimes of the Nazis, is not in the cabinet and remains provincial governor in Carinthia. "Austria will and can participate fully in the work of the European Union," Schuessel told a news conference. "That of course includes participation in informal ministerial meetings and at preparations for official council meetings. " Schuessel said both he and Foreign Minister Benita Ferrero-Waldner had begun contacts with other governments to put Austria's case. He said he was pleased that some countries now appeared to be taking a more balanced approach. "We are seeing at times a very positive response to the fact that we are standing up and saying that a small Alpine people such as the Austrians does not have to put up with being portrayed as a pariah of European politics," he said. "We do not deserve that. We were and we are an open, tolerant, European country. " Austria's 14 EU partners have threatened to freeze bilateral political contacts, deny Austrian ambassadors access to government ministers and withhold support from Austrians seeking jobs in international organisations. Two European Union commissioners warned Austria not to try to block EU decisions in retaliation for the sanctions. The new chancellor faced a no-confidence motion from the small Greens party later in the day when parliament met for its first session after the swearing-in of the new government. The Greens said Schuessel bore "personal and political responsibility for the economic damage and foreign isolation of Austria because of the Haider-Schuessel government. " But as the two coalition parties have a majority of 104 seats in the 183-seat chamber, there was little prospect of the motion being passed.
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  • Location: AUSTRIA VIENNA PARLIAMENT BUILDING
  • Reuters ID: LDL0012CU5IS7
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
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  • Copyright Holder: Reuters Archive
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