The resignation of Mr Jorg Haider as leader of the Freedom Party will make no difference to Austria's international standing, spokesmen for the EU member-states, the US and Israel all said yesterday.
The Portuguese EU Presidency said it saw no quick restoration of normal relations. "For the moment our position remains the same," the Prime Minister, Mr Antonio Guterres, said. "The key question is not the personality of Haider. It is the nature of his party."
In Brussels, officials were cynical, few expecting Mr Haider to remove himself from the political stage or to relinquish indirect control of his party. A spokesman for the Commission said its position remained unchanged - Austria would be judged by its actions which would be scrupulously monitored.
And from European capitals the message was the same, that there could be no question of lifting diplomatic sanctions yet.
The Belgian Foreign Minister, Mr Louis Michel, described the resignation as "doubtlessly a ploy to mollify Western capitals."
The French Finance Minister, Mr Christian Sautter, hailed the resignation as a victory for the Austria opposed to the far right.
"Our concern over what is happening in Austria has been about policies, not personalities," a spokesman for the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, said, adding: "The Freedom Party is still in the government, and it is still extremist." Mr Haider, for his part, "has said he still wants to become chancellor and it is pretty clear that he hasn't given up on his political ambitions," the spokesman warned.
The Danish Foreign Minister, Mr Niels Helveg Petersen, saw Mr Haider's decision as a sign that foreign criticism had had results, but said it would not be appropriate to ease political sanctions.
The US State Department spokesman, Mr James Rubin, called the resignation a "step in the right direction", but stressed it did not erase concerns about the new coalition.
Israel, which withdrew its ambassador from Vienna over the government coalition, said it was unmoved by the resignation. The Foreign Minister, Mr David Levy, said Israel would not send its ambassador back to Vienna as Mr Haider's party continued to speak for the Austrian government.
"From our point of view that changes nothing, in so far as [Haider's] party - with what it represents and its ideology - remains the main voice of the Vienna government," Mr Levy told journalists.
