IV

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. RES. 417

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives concerning the

participation of the extremist FPO in the Government of Austria.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 8, 2000

Mr. LANTOS (for himself, Mr. HORN, Mr. GEJDENSON, Mr. CROWLEY, Mrs.

MORELLA, Mr. WEINER, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. WEXLER, Mr.

ACKERMAN, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. GUTIERREZ, and Ms. SCHAKOWSKY) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on

International Relations

RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives concerning the participation of the extremist FPO in the

Government of Austria.

Whereas the extremist, racist, and xenophobic FPO has entered into a coalition agreement and is participating in

the new Government of Austria;

Whereas the leader of the FPO, Joerg Haider, praised Adolf

Hitler’s ‘‘sound employment policy’’ and called Waffen

SS veterans ‘‘decent people with character who stuck to

their belief through the strongest headwinds’’;

Whereas Joerg Haider and his party in the recent election

campaign decried the ‘‘over-foreignization’’ of Austria,
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which was an expression that was coined and used by

Nazi leaders;

Whereas at a time when the European Union, the United

States, and other nations are working actively to discourage ethnic hatred in the republics of the former Yugoslavia and elsewhere, Joerg Haider shamelessly appealed

to racist sentiment and based his political campaign on

racism and xenophobia;

Whereas in the past Joerg Haider and his party have expressed fundamental disagreement with the principles of

freedom, democracy, and respect for human rights, which

are the foundation of a modern, democratic, open and

tolerant Europe and which Austria, as a member of the

European Union, is committed by treaty to uphold; and

Whereas the inclusion of the FPO in the Austrian governing

coalition serves to legitimize and encourage the extreme

right in other countries of Europe: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives—

2 (1) recognizes the right of the Austrian people

3 to express their political views through a democratic

4 election, but also reaffirms the right and the obliga5 tion of the United States House of Representatives

6 to express its opposition to the anti-democratic, rac7 ist, and xenophobic views that have been expressed

8 by Joerg Haider and other leaders of the FPO, and,

9 because of these publicly expressed views, to state its

10 opposition to the party’s participation in the Aus11 trian Government;
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1 (2) condemns the insulting, racist, and

2 xenophobic statements which have been made over

3 many years by Joerg Haider, the leader of the FPO,

4 and by other leaders of the party;

5 (3) expresses profound regret and dismay that

6 the FPO under the leadership of Joerg Haider will

7 play a major role in the new Government of Austria;

8 (4) commends the leaders of the European

9 Union, the fourteen other member states of the Eu10 ropean Union, Canada, Norway, and other countries

11 which have expressed their serious concerns regard12 ing the participation of the FPO in the Government

13 of Austria;

14 (5) calls upon the President, the Secretary of

15 State, and other officials and agencies of the United

16 States Government to emphasize to Austrian Gov17 ernment officials our dissatisfaction with the inclu18 sion of the FPO in the Government by, among other

19 things, (a) not promoting or accepting any official

20 contacts at a political level with officials of the Aus21 trian Government which includes the FPO, (b) giv22 ing no support to Austrian candidates seeking posi23 tions in international organizations, and (c) receiv24 ing ambassadors of Austria only at a technical level;
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1 (6) urges Members of Congress to refuse to

2 meet with ministers and other political leaders of the

3 Government of Austria and to refuse to meet with

4 members of the Austrian Parliament who are mem5 bers of the parties participating in the governing co6 alition;

7 (7) calls upon the American people and others

8 to show their strong disapproval of the participation

9 of the FPO in the Austrian governing coalition by

10 refusing to travel to Austria, to use Austrian prod11 ucts and services, including Austrian airlines, and to

12 invest in Austrian businesses; and

13 (8) directs the Clerk of the House to send a

14 copy of this resolution to the Secretary of State with

15 the request that it be forwarded to the President of

16 Austria.

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