Vienna - The new Austrian Chancellor, Mr Wolfgang Schussel, said yesterday that companies which used forced labour under the Nazi regime carried the biggest responsibility for compensation payments. Mr Schussel, presenting the new head of a commission looking into the issue, said both state and business had roles to play in the payment of compensation to some 200,000 forced labourers.
"The greater responsibility lies with the firms," he said.
Austria is under pressure to follow the example of Germany, which promised last month to set up a fund of DM10 billion (€5.1 billion) to compensate forced labourers, dividing the costs equally between the state and firms. Mr Schussel said: "We will learn from the German model, but that is not to say we will copy it. Austria must find its own way."