In an extraordinary repudiation of her coalition partner, the Austrian Foreign Minister, Ms Benita Ferrero-Waldner, yesterday told the people of Europe to ignore the leader of the Freedom Party, Mr Jorg Haider.
Appealing to fellow EU member-states for understanding of the Austrian position, she said that only three people were constitutionally entitled to represent her country abroad, the Chancellor, President and Foreign Minister.
"I trust that the people of Europe will listen to those who are entitled to speak for Austria and not to the word of a Carinthia governor," she said.
She insisted that the Austrian People's Party (OVP) was "under no circumstances prepared to maintain the present coalition" if the respect of fundamental European values was not upheld.
The fear that Mr Haider's party will contaminate Austrian foreign policy will not go away. Yesterday the European Commissioner for Enlargement, Mr Gunther Verheugen, went out of his way to repudiate his views.
Over the weekend Mr Haider said that workers from Austria's acceding neighbours should not have full access to its labour market until wages in neighbouring countries had risen to a similar level, a position close to that of the Austrian trade union movement.
"What Haider was saying last weekend . . . well, of course, you can forget it," Mr Verheugen said, noting that Portugal, Spain, Greece and Ireland had entered the Union at a time when their average incomes were much lower than other EU members.
Mr Verheugen said the EU would try to phase in the free movement of workers from new member-states over time, rather than throwing open the doors straight away. But any transitional system must be flexible and must be focused on the most vulnerable sectors of the economy, he said.
"The most seriously affected border areas could receive financial help from the EU to help them adapt," he added.
Ms Ferrero-Waldner was greeted somewhat coolly by ministers, a substantial majority of whom deliberately arrived late for the session. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, at his first meeting, was not party to the snub and said later he believed in maintaining basic courtesies. The Austrian government would now be judged by its actions, he said.
After Ms Ferrero-Waldner's speech the Belgian Foreign Minister, Mr Louis Michel, said that despite his commitment to the joint programme of the coalition, Mr Haider "has not stopped insulting states, governments and heads of government, in a manner completely incompatible with normal bilateral relations".
The Portuguese Presidency, the Italians and the Greeks also responded but, according to diplomats, in more measured terms.
Meanwhile, at a press conference to announce the treaty-changing Inter-Governmental Conference, the Commissioner for Institutional Affairs, Mr Michel Barnier, said he would back a treaty change to put in place mechanisms for monitoring the compliance of member-states with basic European principles.
Foreign ministers agreed to relax a ban on flights to the former Republic of Yugoslavia but simultaneously tightened controls on visas and measures against the financial interests of those associated with the Serbian leader, Mr Slobodan Milosevic.
And they unanimously approved the creation of a team of military experts to lay the basis for a 50,000- to 60,000-member rapid reaction force by 2003.