The leader of Austria's far-right Freedom Party, Mr Jorg Haider, sparked fresh controversy yesterday by accusing his country's Turkish community of refusing to integrate into society.
In an interview with the Turkish daily Hurriyet, Mr Haider said that Austria's 170,000 Turks should decide where their loyalties lie. "They say `We don't want to be Austrian, we want to stay Turkish.' So I say `That's your problem, make up your mind', " he said.
The row over Austria's new right-wing government dominated a meeting in Lisbon yesterday of EU employment and social affairs ministers. In an unprecedented snub, the French and Belgian ministers left the room when Austria's Social Affairs Minister, Ms Elisabeth Sickl, who is a member of the Freedom Party, started to address the meeting.
Apart from Portugal's Mr Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues, who was hosting the meeting, no other minister greeted Ms Sickl.
The Minister of State for Enterprise and Employment, Mr Tom Kitt, told the meeting that the issues of reducing unemployment and social exclusion that were on yesterday's agenda went to the heart of what the EU was about.
"The values and objectives of the EU are very precious. In many ways, we are reminded today of the fragility of those values. Human rights, a Europe of citizens and equality of opportunity will remain central to our vision of the EU of tomorrow." The Belgian Employment and Vice-Prime Minister, Ms Laurette Onkelinx, called for a change to EU treaties to allow for tougher action against member governments that included the extreme right.
Ms Sickl called on Austria's EU partners to give the new government a chance and claimed that the Freedom Party's notoriety was undeserved.
"The programme of my party is completely democratic. I think we ought to be able to talk to each other," she said.
Currency markets throughout Europe were yesterday gripped by a rumour that Austria would be asked to leave the euro on account of the Freedom Party's presence in government.
The rumour, which is unfounded, was enough to propel currency dealers into a flurry of speculation about the effect of the Austrian political crisis on the stability of the euro.
Bavaria's prime minister, Mr Edmund Stoiber, yesterday condemned the freeze on bilateral meetings imposed on Austria by its EU partners. Speaking at a reception in Munich to welcome Austrian President Tomas Klestil, the Bavarian leader said that Germany had a particular obligation to avoid meddling in the affairs of other countries.
However, the international diplomatic offensive may be damaging the Freedom Party's popularity among Austrian voters. An opinion poll published yesterday showed support for the far-right party falling by 2 per cent to 27 per cent - the share of the vote it secured in last October's election.
Mr Haider yesterday dismissed the international outcry over his party's participation in government as politically motivated but he insisted that immigration would remain one of his key campaigning issues.
"The number of foreign children in schools is very high. Austrian children cannot learn their own language. For this reason we have proposed that the number of foreign children in classrooms be limited to 30 per cent," he said.
