Austria's President, Mr Thomas Klestil, appealed last night for an immediate end to sanctions against his country after a three-man panel appointed by the European Commission described the measures as counter-productive. The panel's report praises Austria's treatment of minorities, including immigrants but criticises the far-right Freedom Party and its former leader, Dr Jorg Haider.
Austria's 14 EU partners imposed diplomatic sanctions on Austria in February in protest against the Freedom Party's inclusion in government. The appointment of the "three wise men" - the former Finnish president, Mr Martti Ahtisaari; the former Spanish foreign minister, Mr Marcelino Oreja, and the German legal expert, Dr Jurgen Frowein - was seen by many observers as an attempt to find a way of ending the sanctions.
The three men delivered their report last night to President Jacques Chirac of France, which currently holds the EU's rotating six-month presidency but they made no comment after their 45-minute meeting.
When extracts from the report were published early yesterday by the Spanish newspaper, El Pais, Austrian ministers immediately hailed the "wise men's" verdict as a green light for the lifting of the sanctions.
"I knew that it could only be a good report. The wise men's report is a really good basis for lifting the sanctions," the Foreign Minister, Ms Benita Ferrero-Waldner, said.
French officials in Brussels were quoted last night as predicting that Austria's 14 EU partners could decide early next week whether to end their diplomatic protest against Vienna.
The panel's report praises the effect of the sanctions in increasing sensitivity towards the significance of common European values, not just in Austria but throughout the EU. And it suggests that the measures helped to strengthen the efforts of the Austrian government to uphold European values. But the panel concludes that maintaining the sanctions would be counter-productive and that they have already provoked a nationalistic reaction within Austria.
The report praises Austria's legal protection of minorities as more comprehensive than in many other EU member-states and says that there is no sign that the position of immigrants and asylum-seekers has worsened under the new government.
But the report describes the Freedom Party as "a right-wing, populist party with extreme elements" and criticises the party's xenophobic election campaign last year for engendering fear among foreigners.
Dr Haider and Austria's Justice Minister, Mr Dieter Bohmdorfer, are condemned for suggesting that opposition politicians should be prosecuted for actions that are "detrimental" to Austria. And in a reference to Dr Haider's attempt to silence a leading Austrian political scientist, Dr Anton Pelinka, by means of a libel action, the report declares that the law of defamation is being used to limit free speech.
"The Freedom Party has attempted to eliminate criticism by regularly taking defamation actions against its critics," the report says.
In his first reaction to the report, Dr Haider said that its criticism of his party was cautious because the panel knew that Austria was a harmless country compared to many of its neighbours.
"The horrific episode of the sanctions is over for us. Our opponents will be disappointed," he said.
