Strasbourg, 13/04/2000 (Agence Europe) - On the occasion of a meeting behind closed doors, Wednesday afternoon, with European Parliament President Nicole Fontaine and the presidents of the political groups, Austrian President Thomas Klestil reaffirmed the need to seek a solution together to emerge from the difficult situation created by the bilateral sanctions of fourteen Member States against Austria. It is very difficult to separate bilateral relations from life within the European Union, President Klestil repeated, remarking for example that the Austrian Ambassador to Paris should be able to contribute to preparing the future French presidency of the EU Council, and cited the names of at least forty people who had been penalised by the bilateral sanctions. EUROPE has reason to believe that Wednesday afternoon's discussions revealed, with nuances, the understanding of the heads of the political groups for the arguments of the Austrian President, except for the president of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left Group Francis Wurtz, who said that the only solution to the crisis was Jorg Haider's FPO leaving the Austrian Government; this is "the ethical choice to make, it's politics". Several political leaders declared more or less explicitly that Austria continued to be part of the "European family" (indirect response to the wish expressed by Ms. Fontaine that Austria may "re-become" a full member of the Union, while immediately adding that it had never ceased to be: see yesterday's EUROPE, pp.7/8).
President Klestil stressed that, in the current state of things, Article 6 and 7 of the Treaty (sanction in case of violation of the basic values of European construction) could not be applied to Austria, and repeated that Vienna was in favour of a monitoring mechanism were any State to breach these basic principles. Later, speaking to the press, Mr. Klestil was pleased to note that this idea, that he had already presented at the European Summit of Lisbon, had been favourably received by the presidents of the three main political groups. For the President of the Socialist Group, Mr. Baron, the need to strengthen Article 6 and 7 was an additional argument in favour of including the Charter of Fundamental Rights in the Treaty; but Mr. Klestil observed that Austria did not want to have to wait for the end of negotiations on the Charter to find a solution to its problem.
The President of the EPP Group, Mr. Poettering repeated that Austria was a fully-fledged member of the Union, and that bilateral sanctions risked leading to violations of Community law, whereas the President of the Socialist Group, Mr. Baron noted that the EU was a family and that there had been a quarrel with a member of that family, stressing that the problem was the nature of the FPO. Pat Cox, President of the third largest group in numbers, the Liberal Group, stated that "we are a Union of fifteen"", and said that he would have liked to have seen the presence of the Council Presidency in the hemicycle for Mr. Klestil's speech. The Finnish co-President of the Green Group, Ms. Hautala regretted that bilateral sanctions were not more "targeted" and asked President Klestil (who replied that he had on several occasions reprimanded Jorg Haider for his words) if the leader of the FPO had made statements involving violations of the fundamental principles of European construction. For the Union of Europe of Nations, Ireland's Mr. Collins said that, although he had nothing in common with someone like Haider, the Austrian people were free to elect who they wanted, and Charles de Gaulle (National Front), speaking on behalf of the Technical Group of Independent MEPs, clearly disassociated himself from the decisions of President Chirac and the French Government regarding Austria. The Danish President of the Group of Europe of Democracies and Diversities, Mr. Bonde went further, advising Mr. Klestil to launch "emergency action" within the Court of Justice of Luxembourg, calling on the Court to "strike down" the sanctions of the "fourteen". Mr. Bonde confirmed his opposition to the politics of the FPO and all forms of racism and xenophobia but considered that sanctions prevented Austria from acting as full member of the Union.
President Klestil, moreover, recalled that he had already stressed the need to find a solution to the crisis among all Fifteen, in a letter he sent to Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres. In that letter, Mr. Klestil noted that certain Member States had adopted measures beyond the scope of the planned bilateral sanctions, and recalled that he had already asked the European Commission to ensure that Austria should not be discriminated against. The President of the EPP, Hans-Gert Poettering considered that first bilateral sanctions needed lifting, and only then discuss the setting up of a European monitoring mechanism.