Austrian Referendum Initiative Rejected

Austrian Prime Minister Wolfgang Schussel, leader of the People’s Party (OVP), which has Christian Democrat tendencies and is a major partner in the coalition government, teamed up with Deputy Prime Minister Hubert Gorbach, the member of the small right-wing extremist Liberalistic Party also represented in the coalition, to prepare the referendum proposal. Schussel expressed that he would be pleased if all party supporters represented in the parliament would sign the proposal before the Christmas holiday and that if the proposal was signed by all the political parties, then the referendum on Turkey’s membership would be guaranteed regardless of which of the parties was in power.

The Social Democrat Party, however, which is the main opposition group, rejected the proposal saying, "You want to apply the public’s opinion about Turkey prior to December 17th. You cannot push political parties that are responsible today into something that will develop ten or fifteen tears later."

Greens Party officials urged Schussel to take Turkey more seriously. The leader of the party, Alexander Van Der Bellen, said that holding a referendum in the EU for Turkey’s full membership would be more suitable. Van Der Bellen described the "alliance among parties" proposal by the coalition government as "a package full of deceit" and said nobody can predict what will happen in 15 years. President Heinz Fischer repeated his ideas about presenting Turkey’s full membership in the EU and said the government should think hard about the referendum proposal.