Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-11-14-Speech-2-224"
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"en.20001114.8.2-224"2
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"I have no personal views on this particular matter, though I, like everybody else, both here and elsewhere, am at liberty to make a political analysis on the nature of government. What is more, I note that the wise men have spoken and that, for example, the adjectives ‘racist’ and ‘xenophobic’ were used in their report, albeit as part of a question.
With regard to the other points, I can assure you that as President-in-Office, these personal view points have no bearing whatsoever on matters. I repeat: none whatsoever. The Austrian Government is the legitimate government of a country in the European Union and it is up to us whether we approve or disapprove of the way it is made up. It is precisely because the other 14 Member States disapproved that they imposed sanctions against it. These sanctions are no longer in place today and, as a result, we shall treat this government as we do any other. This, moreover, has always been the case within the European Union, as the sanctions taken against Austria were done so on a bilateral basis, which is something I should like to stress.
You therefore have my full assurance that, within the framework of the European Union, the Austrian Government is considered to be on a completely equal footing with all of the other countries and it participates in all of the Council meetings that are held under the auspices of this Presidency. The term of the Head of State and President of the Republic, Jacques Chirac, will, of course, come to an end at Vienna, this is clear. I should like to mention that the President of the Republic will be accompanied, as is usually the case, by one of his government ministers, either the Minister for Foreign Affairs or myself. Next week, a meeting of the European Conference will take place on my invitation in France, in other words a meeting with the candidate countries. I have been informed that Mrs Ferrero-Waldner intends to come and I will be only too pleased to see her.
All of this shows therefore that we need to clarify several facts. On one hand there is the French Presidency of the European Union, which has to fulfil its duties and do so in a wholly objective manner, and on the other hand there is the political opinion that any politician may impart with regard to a political situation, which is something I am not to change."@en1
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