Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-03-15-Speech-3-161"
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"en.20000315.4.3-161"2
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".
Madam President, I am grateful for this opportunity to clarify once again the capacity in which I made those observations. Let there be no mistake: the statement by the President of the European Council and Portuguese Prime Minister was made on behalf of the 14 countries in the European Union apart from Austria.
This statement was made in a context which, from the outset, as I explained in the speech that I made to this House on 2 February, had nothing to do with the workings of the Community’s machinery. The 14 countries’ three levels of response as regards Austria are therefore bilateral in nature. The fact that this was channelled through the President of the Council was merely a question of coordinating the joint position of the various countries. I would like to reiterate and to emphasise what I have said about Austria’s conduct at Community level up to now: I think I made it quite clear that Austria has been a loyal partner within the European Union and that nobody is questioning Austria’s conduct. Nor is there any question of Austria infringing any of the provisions of Articles 6 and 7 of the Treaty of Amsterdam.
The bilateral sanctions are therefore exactly that. They are not sanctions within the operational framework of the Community. No formal aspect of the European Union’s operational framework has come into play during the Portuguese presidency in relation to the Austrian situation. Certain informal aspects may have been involved, but at present, formally speaking, Austria’s representations are being dealt with at Council Working Group level, at Council of Ministers level, and at the European Council which is to take place shortly.
With regard to the political question which the honourable Member has put to me about the attitude of the Member States towards the effective operation of the Austrian Government, I would like to stress a point which has not always been sufficiently emphasised in relation to Austria: the current situation does not represent ‘business as usual’, neither for Austria in general nor for Austria’s political life. It was not by chance that the party with the second largest vote in the Austrian elections was not invited to form the government. It was not by chance that a party that received a larger number of votes was invited to form the government, but that it then passed on to the party with the third largest number of votes. It was not by chance that the President of the Republic of Austria has obliged the two parties in the coalition government to make a declaration recognising a basic set of principles. It was not by chance at all! That is also the reason why the present political situation in Austria is, of course, not ‘business as usual’ and why, in the same way as the Austrians have doubts about this situation, we all have the right to entertain such doubts and to express them bilaterally.
As regards Austria acting as a full partner within the Community, as it has done up to now, nothing will militate against Austria at Community level. That is quite clear. However, at bilateral level, we must have the responsibility, the right and the duty to be aware of what we regard as a certain violation of the atmosphere of trust which we can no longer take for granted, because of statements that certain individuals have made in the past and because of the political proposals that these individuals have made. This is a political point, it is a political statement, and we have drawn the relevant conclusions here bilaterally speaking, and bilaterally speaking no one can deny us the right to draw conclusions as regards our relations with Austria.
We regret that this is how things have to be and we hope that matters will develop in Austria in such a way that we can act differently."@en1
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