Brussels, 27/01/2000 (Agence Europe) - EP President Nicole Fontaine, expressing her personal view, has said she is "worried" about the prospect of the entry into the Austrian Government of Jörg Haider's party, which "serves as a vehicle for an ideology that is at the antipodes of the humanist values that are the foundation of any democratic society". In her view, it would be "intolerable" for a party that denies the EU's fundamental principles to enter office in a Union country. (See yesterday's EUROPE, page 6, for the statement by French Socialists Mrs Lienemann and Mr Duhamel, which has been endorsed by Socialist Group Chair Mr Baron and Austrian Social Democrat Mr Swoboda).
On Wednesday, numerous questions on the FPÖ's participation in the future Austrian Government were put to the Commission spokesman, who said the matter is being taken very seriously, while pointing out that the government has not been formed yet (at his press conference at the Parliament on Wednesday, Mr Prodi also avoided commenting). The spokesmen noted that the principles on which the Commission operates were highlighted by Romano Prodi in his message to the International Forum on the Holocaust, on 27 January, "Holocaust Day" in memory of the six million Jews exterminated in concentration camps.