NEW YORK (JTA) — Jews are voicing mixed reaction to the European Union’s move this week to lift sanctions it had imposed on Austria after the extremist Freedom Party joined the country’s government.
The 14-member E.U. imposed the sanctions in February, three months after the Freedom Party — led by the charismatic but notorious Jorg Haider — won 27 percent of the vote. Haider routinely spoke of “Austria for real Austrians” and made public statements sympathetic to Nazi Germany.
The E.U.’s modest, mostly symbolic sanctions, said European leaders, were a defense of “European values” and stemmed from concern that the Freedom Party’s ascendancy would feed the far right across the continent.
But the three E.U. officials — known as the “three wise men” — appointed to review the situation in Austria had recently given the thumbs up. The ending of the sanctions was announced Tuesday.
Critics, though, see the E.U.’s decision as a retreat, saying the sanctions had provoked claims of hypocrisy, debate about national sovereignty and had fanned nationalist, anti-Europe sentiment in several countries, like Denmark.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak condemned the E.U. move Wednesday, saying sanctions should remain in place as long as a party with “neo-fascist trappings” remains in the government. Officials said the Jewish state would continue to withhold its ambassador to Vienna.
Meanwhile, the American Jewish Committee will maintain its policy of refusing to meet with Austrian officials.
“We cannot do business as usual with Austria as long as the Freedom Party is part of the coalition,” said AJCommittee spokesman Kenneth Bandler.
“We’re disappointed” the sanctions were halted, Bandler said, “because we’re extremely concerned about the impact Haider’s rise is having on extremist movements across Europe. Thus, it requires continued vigilance.”
Bandler sides with a French proposal for a monitoring system to keep an eye on Haider’s influence and the country’s treatment of minorities.
Across the aisle is the Anti-Defamation League.
In February, the ADL stood alone among Jewish groups when it opposed the sanctions, warning that Austria’s isolation might backfire and further inflame extremism.
“We believed that diplomatic and economic sanctions were not the most constructive way to deal with this phenomenon,” ADL National Director Abraham Foxman reiterated in a statement Tuesday.
“Instead, ADL encouraged grassroots engagement with the 73 percent of the Austrian voting public who did not vote for Mr. Haider.”
For example, the ADL has sponsored programs to make Austrian teachers aware of anti-Semitism and other forms of prejudice.
But even among Austria’s 6,500 Jews, reaction seems mixed.
The president of Austria’s Jewish community, Ariel Muzikant, agreed Wednesday that sanctions had proven “counterproductive.”
“Austrians felt stigmatized,” said Muzikant, who was in New York on Wednesday.
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