Havel Urges EU to Continue Isolating Austria

Against the backdrop of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp where Adolf Hitler jailed and executed foreign enemies, Czech President Vaclav Havel on Thursday urged the European Union to continue isolating Austria for the xenophobic rabble-rousing of its far right.

Havel’s call upon the EU from the scene of Nazi horror in the northern Berlin suburb of Oranienburg served as a sobering counterpoint to recent efforts by some members of the 15-nation common market to ease the diplomatic pressures on Vienna.

Affronted that the far-right Freedom Party had been made a governing partner with the conservative People’s Party, the 14 other EU members in February imposed diplomatic sanctions on Austria, including economic boycotts and a ban on bilateral visits. French and Belgian delegates to recent ministerial gatherings had even refused to shake hands with the Austrians or allow them to appear in traditional group photos.

But after last weekend’s more relaxed meeting of EU foreign ministers in Portugal’s Azores islands, several states--Sweden and Finland foremost among them--have been pushing behind the scenes to reconsider the cold shoulder that the alliance has been showing. A beaming Austrian Foreign Minister Benita Ferrero-Waldner returned to Vienna after the meeting with word that relief might come in the near future.

Havel, whose country of 10 million people hopes to gain EU membership within the next three years, used his visit to the notorious concentration camp to remind the powerful bloc of Western democracies that it should remain vigilant of fresh threats from extremists.

“It is better to raise our voices too soon rather than too late,” Havel told those attending a memorial for 18 Czech students slain at Sachsenhausen by the Nazis.

“I think Europe is right to raise its voice against the big-mouth expressions of a certain Austrian,” Havel said in a clear reference to the Freedom Party’s Joerg Haider.

Haider, who has publicly praised Hitler’s economic achievements and the “honor” of SS troops, formally stepped down this month as party leader, but his far-right colleagues remain in the Cabinet.

Some of the EU’s most powerful members, including Germany and France, remain strongly committed to the sanctions. But Germany has joined several other nations in suggesting that the bloc work out an “exit strategy” for eventually resolving the issue.

Havel, a former playwright who helped lead his country’s peaceful overthrow of communism in 1989, conceded that the Czech Republic also has far to go in ensuring the rights and security of foreign migrants and minorities.

“We must be vigilant in our own states against such ills as xenophobia,” Havel said in apparent reference to a northern Czech village that last year became the focus of international reproach when residents attempted to wall off a community of Roma, or Gypsies.

Havel’s moral authority still holds sway over many Western politicians, and his outspoken support for the continued isolation of Austria could weaken the already tentative moves toward easing sanctions.

During the charismatic Czech president’s four-day official visit here, he was assured by German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder that the EU will be ready to take in new members by the end of 2002.