Austrian grandstanding will only make matters worse

Date: 06/07/2000

The Austrian government's decision to press ahead with a referendum on the country's relations with the EU threatens to make a bad situation even worse.

It is true that the move to appoint a committee of wise men to judge whether Austria is complying with basic European values does not offer a magic way out of the sanctions impasse. And while Chancellor Wolfgang Schussel was bound to clutch at any straw offered by fellow Union leaders to end his government's diplomatic isolation, the Freedom Party - in which former leader Jorg Haider still clearly pulls the strings - was equally certain to exploit the situation to score political points.

But by pressing ahead with the referendum despite the efforts being made by many within the EU to find a way out the deadlock, the Austrian government is bound to whip up anti-Union sentiment in the country still further and make it harder to find a face-saving solution acceptable to all.

The outcome of the poll is not hard to predict. After all, who is likely to vote "no" to the question: "Should Austria use "all suitable means" to end the sanctions imposed upon it?" That would be like voting against motherhood and apple pie. It is therefore nothing more than a classic case of gesture politics - and EU governments have warned repeatedly that they will not be blackmailed into lifting the sanctions by any amount of grandstanding.

The only thing the referendum campaign will achieve is to fuel resentment over the stance taken by the 14 back in January and strengthen the hand of politicians who can profit from taking a hard-line over the difficult decisions which are due to be taken during France's presidency of the Union.

French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine sought to play down fears that Vienna would prevent agreement on the treaty changes needed by December to prepare for enlargement. "It would be a difficult hypothesis to imagine that Austria would block a deal for this reason," he said, referring to the likelihood that the sanctions will still be in place. But as the debate at last month's Feira summit on the tax package showed, even Austria's most pro-European politicians will find it hard to sell a politically unpalatable deal back home while Vienna's is still being given the cold-shoulder.

Schussel's decision to agree to hold the referendum raises question marks over who is really running the Austrian government. For he can be under no illusions about where it will lead and the effect it will have on his attempts to portray himself as a positive figure on the European stage. He should therefore consider whether the time has come to find out whether the Austrian people are happy about the influence over government policy wielded by the Freedom Party by calling fresh elections.