U.S., Austria Normalize Ties as Reaction to Rightists Eases
WASHINGTON — The United States and Austria normalized relations Wednesday after a nine-month chill brought on by the rise in Austria’s government of a rightist party accused of Nazi leanings.
“This is a very happy moment for Austria,” Foreign Minister Benita-Maria Ferrero-Waldner said after a meeting with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
But Ferrero-Waldner also repeated her government’s assertion that the treatment by the United States--and sanctions imposed by the European Union but since lifted--were unjust.
The State Department said Albright and Ferrero-Waldner were “pleased with the progress the two countries are making together on a number of fronts.”
It said in a statement that U.S.-Austrian relations are ready to “regain their normal, productive profile” partly because of the work Austria has done recently to set up a fund to compensate World War II slave laborers.
The EU sanctions were levied in February after conservative Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel brought members of the far-right Freedom Party into his government. Joerg Haider, the party’s former leader, had long been criticized for remarks he made that showed sympathy with Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime.
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
