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Fifty-year-old Haider, whose party holds half the new government's 10 ministries, including defence, foreign affairs and justice, campaigned for curbs on immigration, as well as increased job creation and family support. But he himself is not a member of the cabinet, and safeguards have been put in place to prevent the resurgence of extreme racism in government policies.

As well as organising "prayers for the homeland" on 6 February, the Ecumenical Council appealed to church bodies abroad on 11 February to oppose Austria's isolation, adding that the EU sanctions had "magnified internal tensions" and polarised attitudes.

The head of the Catholic Church in Austria, Cardinal Christoph Schonborn, also criticised the EU, claiming that its "condemnation of the whole country and its inhabitants" had hurt "the many Austrians who are convinced Europeans".

"Every government, including the present one, has the right to be judged on its actions," Cardinal Schonborn said on 4 February. "Strident foreign reactions can be psychologically justified in the light of 20th-century experiences. But they also overlook the fact that for the past 50 years Austria has been a particularly stable and democratic country, engaged in humanitarian assistance and faithful to its constitution."

Keith Clements, in his letter of 14 February, said that in June 1997 Austria's churches had hosted the Second European Ecumenical Assembly at Graz, which committed all denominations to defend "victims of social injustice" and to champion the "dignity of refugees and migrants".

He added that they could expect "deepest solidarity" from fellow-Christians abroad in their attempts to "deepen responsible public debate, challenge racism and xenophobia, defend the rights of the disadvantaged and the stranger, prevent any erosion of human rights and democratic values, and confront misleading versions of past history".

"Opinions will differ on whether there was no alternative to the Freedom Party's inclusion in the new government. It has indeed to be recognised that the Freedom Party remains a minority group, and that there are large and influential sections of Austrian opinion strongly opposed to it," CEC's general secretary continued. "But it is a matter for the most serious reflection that in a modern European democracy and European Union member-state, a political movement appealing to and fostering attitudes so threatening to justice, peace and human rights has been able to acquire so much public legitimacy."

Welcoming the letter, the presiding bishop of Austria's 340 000-member Evangelical Lutheran church, Herwit Sturm, said it signalled that Christian communities were "seeing the situation differently" from the critics abroad. He added that his own church had exchanged advice with Lutheran and Reformed leaders in France and Belgium on how to confront hostility to foreigners.

The bishop, who also co-chairs the Ecumenical Council, said the FPO was "a democratic party which has come close to the edge, but hasn't gone beyond it".

He added that it had had ministers for several years in six of Austria's nine provincial governments, all which had behaved "quite normally". The bishop said he believed the new premier, Wolfgang Schussel of the People's Party, who is a committed Christian, would ensure his government abided by its statement of principles.

"The EU's harsh response is already having the opposite effect of what was intended, by making Haider the best-known Austrian in Europe", Bishop Sturm told ENI. "But some of the language in Reverend Clements' letter is also exaggerated. The support [among the electorate] for the FPO is a protest against the current political situation, rather than a sign of hostility to foreigners. The fact that so many people are demonstrating their opposition to racism and anti-semitism is also a good development."

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February (Web-only) 2000, Vol. 44