Brussels / Lisbon / Vienna, 09/02/2000 (Agence Europe) - The president of the United Left Group at the European Parliament, Francis Wurtz, wrote to Nicole Fontaine expressing the hope that she would call on the Commission president to give explanations during the plenary session next week, on the message that he sent on Monday to the Austrian Chancellor (see EUROPE of 7/8 February, p.6). How should we interpret, he asks, "all the wishes for success" addressed by Mr Prodi to the head of government with whom fourteen Member States have just frozen their bilateral relations? He went on to add: How can one understand the fact that Mr Prodi "does not doubt" the commitment made in favour of the "defence of common values" by a government with six ministers from the Haider party? According to Mr Wurtz, over and beyond the "diplomatic constraints", Mr Prodi seems to be "going beyond his mandate in thus taking a position contrary to that of both the Parliament and to a majority of Member States".
Romano Prodi, for his part, when speaking at his press conference on Wednesday (see other article), answered questions concerning Austria. He repeated that the Commission will be the guardian of the fundamental principles of the Union, and that it will be "very severe on principles". For this reason, he said, we are closely following the work on the European Charter of Fundamental Rights, as "we have already Articles 6 and 7 but it is better to have a more systematic text (…) a doctrine, and guiding principles". "The problems will come at a time when we must judge the facts", he added.
Finally, in an interview with Le Monde, Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres felt the Europe has taken a "tough", "pioneering" position in this affair but that this should not affect the "normal working of organisations of a multilateral kind". However, when answering questions on the possible duration of application of measures by the fourteen Member States towards Vienna, he said that, personally: "I cannot see how our bilateral relations could be normal with a government or a party which has positions running counter to the principles and values of our civilisations".