Vienna - Austria's far-right Freedom Party, despite a signed commitment to EU expansion to the east, is threatening to block the process and has declared war on the government official in charge of enlargement.
The party's former leader, Mr Jorg Haider, insists that Austria, under an EU cloud since his party joined government, should oppose the entry of both the Czech Republic and Slovenia into the EU if the two countries do not cancel decrees that led to the expulsion of ethnic Germans after the second World War. He has also accused the government's official for expansion, Mr Erhard Busek, of supporting the Czech entry only because he "obviously comes from that country". Mr Busek retorted that Mr Haider "should stop harming the position of Austria and stop trying to transform his marginal role into a major one".