BRUSSELS, -- The European Union's top foreign policy representative, Javier Solana, said on Friday he backed the tough stand taken by 14 member states against Austria's new government comprising Joerg Haider's far-right Freedom Party.
"I am very very pleased with the manner the institutions of the European Union have reacted," Solana said at a reception marking the new millennium.Solana, the former head of NATO, said each EU institution had "reacted in a very, very fast manner, every institution in the context of their capabilities, their capacities and their competence.
"And I think Europe has given a very good example of how in important things--things that have to go with principles, with values--there's no possibility of compromise," he said.
Austria's EU partners have threatened to isolate Vienna politically because of the Freedom Party's participation in the government. The executive European Commission and the European Parliament supported their defence of European values.
Solana said he expected the EU--which comprises the Commission, the Council of Ministers grouping heads of state and government, and the European Parliament--to go ahead with its decision from the moment the Austrian government took power.
"I'm sure that the decision taken by the three institutions will be implemented and will be implemented from the very moment that a new government of that composition will be established in Austria," Solana said.