U.S. lifts freeze on relations with Austria

From Elise Labott
CNN State Department Producer

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States on Wednesday renewed full diplomatic relations with Austria after nine months of punitive measures against the country.

The announcement was made after a meeting at the State Department between Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Austrian Foreign Minister Benita Ferrero-Waldner.

The United States restricted contacts with Austria in February when candidates from the Freedom Party, a far right group associated with anti-Semitic platforms, joined the country's coalition government. The European Union, which imposed a freeze in all bilateral contact with Austria over the matter, lifted its own restrictions in September.

In a joint statement the two countries agreed that their "mutual accomplishments have allowed U.S.-Austrian relations fully to regain their normal, productive profile."

A senior State Department official said Wednesday that several recent agreements with Austria, including compensation for its involvement in forced labor during the Nazi period, helped the United States decide it was time to re-engage Austria in a "normal working relationship."

Austria's role as "chairman in office" at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), where it actively pushed for the organization's presence in Chechnya, also contributed to the decision.

For the past nine months, contact between the United States and Austria was "limited to essential" business. But the senior official said the United States is no longer "artificially restricting or inhibiting our contacts."

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U.S. State Department
Republic of Austria
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe

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