AUSTRIA: AUSTRIA'S FREEDOM PARTY MEET TO AWAIT THE RESULTS OF A NATIONAL PETITION DEMANDING THAT AUSTRIA VETO CZECH MEMBERSHIP OF EU
Record ID:
584939
AUSTRIA: AUSTRIA'S FREEDOM PARTY MEET TO AWAIT THE RESULTS OF A NATIONAL PETITION DEMANDING THAT AUSTRIA VETO CZECH MEMBERSHIP OF EU
- Title: AUSTRIA: AUSTRIA'S FREEDOM PARTY MEET TO AWAIT THE RESULTS OF A NATIONAL PETITION DEMANDING THAT AUSTRIA VETO CZECH MEMBERSHIP OF EU
- Date: 22nd January 2002
- Summary: (W4) VIENNA, AUSTRIA (JANUARY 22, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SLV/SV/CU PARTY SUPPORTERS WAITING FOR THE RESULT OF THE PETITION IN A VIENNA RESTAURANT/BADGE (3 SHOTS) 0.11 2. SV/MCU OFFICIALS TALKING (2 SHOTS) 0.19 3. SV FREEDOM PARTY PARLIAMENTARY LEADER PETER WESTENTHALER TALKING TO SUPPORTERS 0.23 4. MCU (German) FREEDOM PARTY PARLIAMENTARY LEADER PETER WESTENTHALER SAYING: "We will discuss this in parliament now. We want to continue to block the Temelin nuclear power station and we are now a step closer towards this as we are no longer sitting at the negotiating table alone. We have got some 900,000 Austrians supporting us and that feels good." 0.41 5. SV/MCU AUSTRIA'S VICE CHANCELLOR AND FREEDOM PARTY LEADER SUSANNE RIESS-PASSER ARRIVING/SEATED (2 SHOTS) 0.57 6. MCU WOMEN SUPPORTERS 1.02 7. SV/CU PARTY OFFICIALS AND SUPPORTERS WATCHING RESULT READ LIVE ON TELEVISION (2 SHOTS) 1.12 8. MCU OFFICIALS AND SUPPORTERS CLAPPING 1.19 9. MCU OF SUSANNE RIESS-PASSER WATCHING RESULTS 1.25 10. CU OF POSTER 1.28 11. SLV PRESS CONFERENCE 1.32 12. MCU (German) AUSTRIA'S VICE CHANCELLOR AND FREEDOM PARTY LEADER SUSANNE RIESS-PASSER SAYING: "Will this bring the coalition to an end? That is not a wish that we want to fulfil. I know it's a question which has been asked increasingly in relation to this petition but also in the past two years. This coalition was given a task to work for four years and we will fulfil that. That does not mean that we can not disagree on fundamental points. We went in to coalition and not a fusion with the People's Party." 2.14 13. MCU PARTY OFFICIALS LISTENING 2.18 14. MCU (German) RIESS-PASSER SAYING: "We have a result which is the third best result of a petition in Austria's democratic history. He who does not take this seriously must face his own conscience. I take it seriously." 2.37 15. SV JOURNALISTS LISTENING 2.40 16. SV/CU OF NEWSPAPER STAND AND HEADLINES (5 SHOTS) 3.01 17. MCU MAN READING NEWSPAPER 3.07 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 6th February 2002 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: VIENNA, AUSTRIA
- Country: Austria
- Reuters ID: LVAEJVJDSRPI67WGAVBZ9CDAODMR
- Story Text: Supporters and officials of Austria's far-right
Freedom Party have met in Vienna to await the results of a
national petition demanding that Austria veto Czech membership
of the European Union unless a controversial nuclear plant is
closed.
Nearly a sixth of Austrian voters signed a petition
demanding that their country veto Czech membership of the
European Union unless Prague shuts down a controversial
nuclear plant.
The petition was not legally binding and the result will
do little more than force Austria's parliament to debate the
Temelin plant.
Prague said its European Union membership negotiations
would not be affected.
The Austrian interior ministry announced late on Monday
that 915,220 out of 5.8 million eligible voters -- 15.5
percent -- had signed the petition launched by Joerg Haider's
Freedom Party demanding the closure of the Temelin plant.
The Freedom Party, half of a coalition government with
Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel's conservatives, hailed the
result as a resounding success and said it would try to have
the veto threat enshrined in a law.
But Schuessel's People's Party, which together with the
opposition Social Democrats and Greens had opposed the
petition, said there would be no parliamentary majority for
this.
The issue is likely to provoke increased public squabbling
within the two-year-old coalition and could in time trigger
early elections.
Prague insists the plant, 60 km (40 miles) from the border
with Austria, is safe and says the petition is really aimed at
preventing it from joining the EU.
Support for the petition is likely to have been boosted by
weekend comments by Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman
describing Haider as a populist pro-Nazi and suggesting that
only an idiot would sign it.
cah/zd
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