Austria to 'defend' its rights in Europe

Schuessel and Riess-Passer to stand up for Austria's rights

VIENNA, Austria (Reuters) -- The Austrian government has said it will be more assertive in future and defend its rights in Europe.

The comments follow a seven-month boycott by Austria's EU partners after the far-right Freedom Party was accepted into the coalition government. "Austria must take its place at the heart of Europe and defend it," Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel told parliament on Wednesday.

"We will not sacrifice Austrian interests to anyone who thinks they can tell us from Berlin or Paris or Brussels or anywhere else what should happen."

He cited Austria's control of its water resources and its insistence that nuclear power plants in EU candidate countries should meet western safety standards as cases in which the country would fight for its interests.

Schuessel and his deputy, Freedom Party leader Susanne Riess-Passer, also rejected suggestions that leading powers such as France and Germany could form an "avant-garde," essentially taking over the leadership of the EU.

"We should be very careful with words like core and avant-garde," Schuessel said.

Austria's 14 EU partners froze bilateral political contacts with Vienna in February after Schuessel formed a coalition with the Freedom Party, then led by Joerg Haider.

Haider was known internationally for "Austria-first" anti-immigration policies and comments playing down the crimes of the Nazis for which he later apologised.

The sanctions were lifted this month after an EU-appointed panel gave Austria a clean bill of health for its human rights record, although it criticised the Freedom Party as a "right-wing populist party with radical elements."

Riess-Passer, vice chancellor in the Schuessel government, said the 14 countries had violated EU principles by trying to isolate a democratically elected government.

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