AUSTRIA:AUSTRIA HAS warned EU members not to make a "scapegoat" of Ireland after its rejection of the Lisbon Treaty.
Politicians in Vienna have expressed alarm at the reaction in some EU capitals to the Irish vote, and warned yesterday of the danger of EU history repeating itself. Eight years ago, Austria faced EU sanctions after the far-right Freedom Party entered office in Vienna.
Yesterday the Austrian foreign minister, Dr Ursula Plassnik, warned that it would create "extra problems" for EU member states to second-guess the decision of Irish voters.
At this morning's foreign minister meeting in Luxembourg, she will warn EU colleagues to resist the temptation to "name and shame" Ireland. Her advisers argue that sanctions against Austria eight years ago only fuelled the diplomatic crisis.
They said yesterday that Taoiseach Brian Cowen "can count on Austrian support" in the difficult week ahead.
Austria has been one of the few EU member states not to call for ratification of the Lisbon Treaty to continue across Europe; Dr Passnik has instead urged EU leaders to "listen carefully to our Irish friends".
At this morning's foreign ministers meeting, she will lead opposition to the idea of a two-speed Europe, revived at the weekend by the German foreign minister. The proposal would "only create new, artificial borders", she said on Austrian television yesterday.
Instead, she called on the union to look again at Austria's proposal for EU-wide referendums.
Austria first made the suggestion of EU-wide referendums eight years ago, ahead of the Nice Treaty, and again at the convention that drafted the now redundant constitutional treaty.
The Irish vote had, she said, "sadly has proven once again what we have always warned against: a mish-mash of national referendums that fail to move Europe forward".
