Vienna, 08/05/2000 (Agence Europe) - As reported in EUROPE of 6 May, (page 3), the Austrian Government, after a special meeting last Friday, has taken a number of initiatives to defend the country from the effects of the bilateral sanctions by the Fourteen, including a visit by Mr Schüssel to the Commission (so far, only President Klestil has visited the Commission and the European Parliament, Ed.). If no concrete plan to waive the sanctions is presented before the end of the Portuguese Presidency, a referendum will be held in the autumn to confirm membership of the European Union and rejection of the sanctions. It is time for the Fourteen to think seriously about their "unjustified" sanctions, in the light of the real situation in Austria, and to waive them, states the action programme approved by the Schüssel government, which adds: "European unification must no longer be penalised. The deliberate exclusion from the European Community of values of a country like Austria, which has demonstrated its attachment to democracy, without having violated either European law or even its spirit, is indeed a violation of the fundamental values of democracy and the rule of law that is supposedly being defended".
The action plan asserts that the bilateral sanctions have affected Austria's rights and have had a number of discriminatory repercussions on citizens and companies, and that the Declaration of 31 January on the bilateral sanctions is a violation of the legal foundations and the spirit of the EU Treaty, in particular Article 6 (rights of a democratically elected government) and Article 10 (duty of loyalty, cooperation and solidarity between Member States). Since no dialogue at political level has been possible as Fifteen so far, in spite of "massive efforts", the Austrian Government has announced, "to clarify the situation in Austria and defend Austrian interests", a plan comprising the following actions:
"What do the citizens of Europe say?": national and international polls on Austria prior to the upcoming European summit;
"Diplomatic offensive": more information for opinion makers and European civil society on the situation in Austria;
"The Regions for Austria - exploiting the strengths of the European regions": initiatives to be conducted by regional officials;
"Austrian Action Days" in the Member States: participation of Austrian political and economic figures and personalities from tourism, culture and the media;
"Austrians from abroad for Austria";
International Media Day (in the fall) on the "Role of the media in the context of international relations between States";
Creation of an Austrian web site dealing with the sanctions;
EU Council and European Commission: oral and written questions by Members of the EP on Austria;
"Friends of Austria": activation of parliamentary and other friendship groups;
"Making Austria the Subject" in EU Councils of Ministers: memorandum by the Foreign Ministry;
visit by the Federal Chancellor to the European Commission in Brussels;
Intergovernmental Conference: drafting of a new Austrian proposal on reform of Article 7;
"Law Day in the EU", in May, organised by the Foreign Ministry;
"legal protection" action group: detailed review of Austria's legal options; complaint in the event there is a Treaty violation; regular questioning of the Commission in the case of discrimination against Austrian citizens, companies or structures because of the sanctions;
International Conference of Legal Experts, in the autumn, on the invitation of the President of the Austrian Constitutional Court, to discuss subsequent development of EU law;
Drafting of a report on measures against racism, anti-Semitism, discrimination and xenophobia in Austria;
Referendum in the autumn.