Berlin - Germany's conservative opposition Christian Democrats (CDU) attacked Chancellor Gerhard Schroder's support for sanctions against Austria as "thoroughly inappropriate" yesterday and called for them to be dropped.
In a French-led move, Austria's 14 EU partners imposed bilateral diplomatic sanctions on Vienna earlier this year in protest at the inclusion of Mr Jorg Haider's far-right Freedom Party in government.
The CDU General Secretary, Mr Ruprecht Polenz, said both the CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the CSU, wanted to maintain a German tradition of cross-party foreign policy consensus with the government, but Mr Schroder did not have their full backing.
