The appointment of three reputable inspectors to examine the human-rights situation in Austria, signals the inevitable end of sanctions against Vienna. The move will be welcomed by those member-states, including Ireland, who have pushed for a lifting of the sanctions which were imposed five months ago. In tandem with the setting up of the three-member group, the President of the European Commission, Mr Romano Prodi, announced belatedly that he had opposed the imposition of sanctions from the start.
Bearing these circumstances in mind, the EU has shown itself again to be less than decisive on a controversial issue. Those who have argued against sanctions have taken the view that the extreme-right Freedom Party led by Mr Jorg Haider, arrived in the Austrian government democratically and therefore outside forces had no justification in applying pressure.
Another, larger group, led by France, took a different view. Those countries that suffered German occupation during the second World War were particularly sensitive to Mr Haider's arrival in Government. Mr Haider's duplicity in speaking a calm and seductive logic to those who would listen to him internationally while resorting to racism and xenophobia at home, has also clouded the issue.
The statements of the Austrian Chancellor, Mr Wolfgang Schuessel, have been disingenuous. In his most recent remarks, he described his government as "very patient and moderate." But while the large majority of Austrians voted for parties other than Mr Haider's, it was Mr Schuessel's expediency in forming a coalition that brought the Freedom Party into that country's power structures.
The action of the 14 EU states in imposing sanctions for the past five months have helped improve Vienna's attitude to human rights. It should be stressed, however, that Mr Haider's resignation from government was a crass and purely cosmetic move.
The three men charged with the EU mission have strong international reputations. Mr Martti Ahtisaari is a former Finnish president who played a major role in bringing NATO's bombing campaign in Yugoslavia to a halt and is one of those appointed to examine the IRA's weapons dumps; Mr Marcellino Oreja has twice been a European Commissioner while Mr Jochen Frowein brings one of Europe's keenest legal minds to bear on the situation.
Mr Prodi has urged the team to come up with a result as soon as possible even if its members have to give up their summer holidays. He wants the matter resolved for his own internal reasons. The French presidency, on the other hand, will not want sanctions against Austria to be withdrawn during its period at the helm.
The three men will, therefore, be under pressure from two opposing viewpoints within the EU. They would do well to examine the claims of discrimination against artistic and intellectual groups outlined by Denis Staunton in this newspaper today, to keep their own counsel and to bring in their report at a time they themselves feel satisfied to do so.