End in sight for Austrian sanctions

Haider is still Carinthia governor

By Angus Roxburgh in Vienna

Leaked extracts from a European Union report, published by the Spanish newspaper El Pais, indicate that diplomatic sanctions against Austria are to be lifted.

The report into the Austrian Government, which includes members of the far-right Freedom Party, is to be published officially later on Friday.

Former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari leads the panel

The report by three so-called wise men, led by the former Finnish President, Martti Ahtisaari, is said to recommend that sanctions imposed against Austria by its 14 EU partners should be lifted because they have been counter-productive.

The Austrian Foreign Minister, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, has already welcomed what is known about the wise men's conclusions.

She said they were a good reason for the sanctions imposed by the other 14 EU countries to be lifted.

Uncomfortable reading

And, indeed, the wise men's report will make uncomfortable reading for Austria's partners.

On the one hand, it appears to confirm their concerns about the Freedom Party. It says its election campaign was marked by xenophobia.

The Austrian foreign minister welcomed the report's findings

But as for the Austrian Government, half of which consists of Freedom Party ministers, it is given a clean bill of health. Its respect for minorities, refugees and immigrants, the report says, is no less than in other EU member states.

The wise men conclude, according to the leaked extracts, that continuing sanctions against Austria would be counter-productive. The measures, they say, have already generated nationalist sentiments in Austria.

That puts the European Union in a difficult position. The original reason for imposing sanctions - the inclusion of the Freedom Party in government - still stands, but their usefulness has now been called into question by the EU's own independent experts.