The President of the European Commission, Mr Romano Prodi, said yesterday it was important that the three "wise men" appointed to investigate Austria's commitment to democratic values should report speedily. A statement from the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights named the three men as the former Finnish president Mr Martti Ahtisaari, the former Spanish foreign minister Mr Marcelino Oreja, and Prof Jochen Frowein, director of Germany's Max-Planck Institute.
Mr Prodi was speaking at a joint press conference in Brussels with the Austrian Chancellor, Mr Wolfgang Schussel, who also welcomed the nominations and pledged that Vienna would not obstruct EU business over its sanctions dispute.
Mr Schussel was on an official visit to the Commission. Mr Prodi also disclosed that he had never favoured the sanctions imposed bilaterally in January by the other 14 EU member-states against Austria.
Until now the Commission has refrained from commenting on the sanctions because they were a matter for the individual memberstates, and Mr Prodi's position on the matter carries no weight in practice.
Mr Ahtisaari, who was president of Finland until this year, will spend the next few months commuting between Finland, Vienna and Northern Ireland, where he is also verifying the putting beyond use of IRA arms dumps with the South African businessman Mr Cyril Ramaphosa.
The veteran diplomat (63) helped secure peace in Kosovo last year and had previously served on the UN's behalf in Namibia.
The Portuguese Prime Minister, Mr Antonio Guterres, had asked the court's president, Judge Luzius Wildhaber, to nominate the three experts as part of a formula to find a way to lift the sanctions.
A court statement said the trio would report directly to the state holding the presidency of the EU, now France, but set no deadline for then to complete their work.
Mr Schussel made clear yesterday that he hoped the report could be ready by the early autumn, hinting that that would make Austria'a controversial planned referendum unnecessary. Others, not least the French, have indicated they think it unlikely that the sanctions will be lifted before the end of the year.
"The Austrian government was and is very patient and moderate," Mr Schussel insisted yesterday. "Words such as threat, blackmail and veto should be deleted from the EU vocabulary. "While Austria will not give up its rights, we are not going to deliberately slow down important processes."
Mr Schussel said the court's nominees were "first class" and that, although the Austrian government does not approve of their task, "both parties in the government and the Lander had now agreed to co-operate with them".
Mr Oreja, a conservative, was Spanish foreign minister from 1976 to 1980 and was a member of the European Commission responsible for institutional affairs for five years until 1999. He is a former secretary general of the Council of Europe.
Prof Frowein has directed the Max-Planck Institute for Comparative and Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg since 1981. He is a former chairman of the European Court of Human Rights.
AFP adds: Austrian far-right leader Mr Jorg Haider expressed confidence yesterday that the appointment of the three men to investigate Austria's human rights record could lead to the rapid lifting of EU sanctions.
He pledged that his Freedom Party intended to co-operate fully with them.
"If the three wise men do their work well, the only thing the EU can do will be to rapidly lift the sanctions against Austria," he said.
