EU sanctions start immediately Freedom Party joins cabinet

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- The European Union has set unprecedented political sanctions to isolate one of its own member nations the moment a new government including a far-right party takes office in Austria.

The measures against Austria are to kick in automatically today once the government with its Freedom Party ministers is sworn in, said Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency.The EU's unusually strong move reflects deep concern provoked by Freedom Party leader Joerg Haider, who has in the past expressed sympathy with aspects of Nazism and has opposed EU enlargement into eastern Europe, saying it could spark a new wave of immigrants.

"A whole range of values which underpin our civilization are at stake," Guterres said in Lisbon on Thursday. "We will pay maximum attention to the actions of the Austrian government."

Under the sanctions, ministers from the other 14 members will halt all bilateral contacts with their Austrian counterparts. Austrian ministers will still be able to take their seats at the Union's regular meetings, but will be frozen out of backroom negotiations that are often vital for forging consensus within the European bloc.

Austrian ambassadors in EU capitals will be shunned for all except "technical talks" and no EU nation will support Austrian candidates proposed for international posts.

The measures were agreed Monday by the other 14 EU nations in a break with their traditional stance of non-interference in each other's internal politics.

Although Haider on Thursday signed a declaration renouncing Austria's Nazi past and promised to respect European values, Austria's EU partners remained unconvinced.

British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said Haider's views didn't have "any place in the modern Europe that we are trying to create," the British Broadcasting Corp. reported.

"The naked appeal to xenophobia on which Mr. Haider has based his platform on which he has sought votes and which he continues to peddle is something that strikes against the basis of the European Union," Cook said.

The European Parliament cautioned Austria's very participation in the EU could be suspended if the new government fails to respect democracy and human rights.

The warning and a condemnation of Haider was passed 406 to 53 by the EU assembly just before Austria's President Thomas Klestil reluctantly approved the government coalition comprising ministers from the Freedom Party and the conservative Austrian People's Party.