Chancellor of Austria to Visit U.S. as Planned

Austria said Thursday that the U.S. order barring President Kurt Waldheim has hurt relations, but Chancellor Franz Vranitzky said he will visit Washington this month as planned.

Foreign Minister Alois Mock said the United States proposed “a constructive dialogue,” but he indicated at a news conference that Austria will not accept the offer until it sees the evidence for Waldheim’s name being put on a watch list of undesirable aliens.

Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III issued the order on grounds that evidence shows the former U.N. secretary general aided in the deportation for execution of thousands of Jews and partisans while he was a German army lieutenant in the Balkans in World War II.

Meese announced the action Monday but did not release the evidence. Jewish groups and other organizations have made allegations of war crimes against Waldheim since early last year, and he has consistently denied them.

‘Friendly Ties for Decades’

Vranitzky announced at a news conference that he will make his scheduled visit May 17-24 “because relations between two states that have maintained such friendly ties for decades should not be allowed to waste away.”

“Isolation will not help solve any problems,” he said. “The decision to go through with this trip is in the interests of the country.”

Vranitzky leads a coalition of his Socialists and Mock’s conservative People’s Party. He indicated that both Waldheim and Mock had doubts about his visit but had left the decision to the chancellor.

Mock said that finding “a new perspective” in relations with the United States “will be an extremely complicated and long endeavor.”

He said he called U.S. Ambassador Ronald Lauder to his office early Thursday and reiterated the Austrian rejection of charges against Waldheim.