When the Austrian chancellor, Dr Wolfgang Schussel, arrives in Dublin today for his first visit to an EU capital since diplomatic sanctions against Vienna were lifted, his first task will be to thank the Taoiseach, one of his few constant friends in Europe.
In his spacious office on Vienna's Ballhausplatz this week, the chancellor pondered fondly on the Mr Ahern's kindness towards him at the EU summit in Lisbon last March, a month after the sanctions were imposed.
"The photographers wanted only one picture, the Austrian chancellor sitting alone on the bus. Bertie Ahern sat on the bus with his foreign minister and he said to me: `Let's change the seats, so they will not get the picture they want.' It was a personal gesture, a human gesture and that was very important," he said.
Although the sanctions are gone, gestures of warmth towards Dr Schussel remain in short supply and few EU leaders are keen to follow the Taoiseach's example by extending an official invitation to Austria's leader. When the chancellor was in Berlin this week, he met his German counterpart, Mr Gerhard Schroder, in an unfashionable hotel but did not receive an official, government reception.
"Even during the difficult months of the sanctions we had good contacts with the Irish government and I know that behind the scenes the Irish government worked hard to find a solution," Dr Schussel said.
The diplomatic slights clearly rankle with Dr Schussel, an enthusiastic supporter of European integration, who served as Austria's foreign minister. This sensitivity to Austria's image abroad makes all the more inexplicable the chancellor's recent ignition of an unholy row over his country's role under Hitler. In response to a question from the Jerusalem Post earlier this month, Dr Schussel described Austria as Hitler's first victim, on the grounds that it was the first sovereign state the Nazis invaded.
"It was always clear that Austria was a victim and we had Austrians as victims but also Austrians integrated in the killing machinery of Hitler. And therefore we see a moral responsibility and especially during the past few years, we have moved to accept our responsibility and do something for the victims," the chancellor told me this week.
Dr Schussel acknowledges that Austria has been slow to compensate some victims of the Third Reich and that issues such as stolen art works and "Aryanised" property have only begun to be addressed. But he insists that it is a distortion of history to deny that many Austrians were themselves victims.
"We do not hesitate to accept our responsibilities but because we know that Austria was a victim. I will always resist and not allow a rewriting of Austrian contemporary history. Don't forget that after the military occupation by Nazi Germany, five previous Austrian chancellors were immediately imprisoned. They went to the concentration camps and tens of thousands of Austrians were immediately jailed and sometimes tortured and killed," he said.
As the debate over Austria's past gathers momentum in the Viennese press, Dr Schussel is at pains to point out that it was not his intention to spark a row.
The chancellor insists that, despite the enduring influence of Dr Jorg Haider, the Freedom Party is now a normal, Austrian, democratic, European political party, on the political spectrum right of centre.
Dr Schussel argues that the sanctions imposed against Austria following his decision to share power with Dr Haider's party were unjust and counterproductive. And he maintains that the lessons to be learned from the experience are very different from those intended by Austria's EU partners.
"The first lesson, voters decide on governments, not the ideas of left spin doctors. Secondly, it is always necessary to listen to your partners. If you have problems, concerns, criticism against a family member, I think the most appropriate way is to sit down and negotiate and find a dialogue and not to break contacts. This is exactly what happened. Most of the other EU member-states had some concerns, maybe understandable - I think not understandable, but anyway . . . But if they saw the problems the best way would have been to sit down and to talk," he said.
Despite the bitter memory of the sanctions, which has made the EU unpopular among many Austrians, Dr Schussel promises to take a co-operative approach at next month's summit in Nice. Like Ireland, Austria will insist that each member state must continue to nominate a Commissioner and the chancellor is concerned about the possible impact of re-weighting votes in favour of larger member-states.
But he is in favour of extending qualified majority voting into areas such as tax and social welfare that remain taboo for Ireland and Austria takes a more robust approach than other EU neutrals to Europe's common security policy.
"I am going to Nice to stand up for Austrian interests. It is in our interest to insist that the principles of the founders of the EEuropean Community, the representation of the member states in all European institutions should be guaranteed, not only now but in the future. Secondly, it is in our interest to create an effective European Union. This requires more qualified majority voting but with some safeguards."
As he lists the pro-business reforms instituted by Austria's right-wing coalition during its first nine months in office, Dr Schussel expresses satisfaction with the way the government is working and appears confident that it will survive a full term in office.
"There is no longer a feeling in Austria that something is happening for the worse. We are not nearly perfect - nobody is saying that - but I think we are doing well," he said.
As they watch public spending being slashed and see subsidies to Austria's cultural scene withdrawn, many of Dr Schussel's fellow citizens would disagree. Few outsiders will take much notice of Austria's change of economic policy, which has been driven by the fiercely ideological finance minister, Mr Karl Heinz Grasser, a member of the far-right Freedom Party.
Dr Schussel knows, however, that the world is watching very closely how his government treats minorities, especially immigrants and asylum seekers. And as Austria moves to restore to its rightful owners some of the property stolen from them by the Nazis, every political utterance is being scrutinised for signs of resentment.