US embassy cable - 05VIENNA1561

UNCLAS VIENNA 001561 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR EUR/ERA AND EUR/AGS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, AU, EUN 
SUBJECT:  Austrian Parliament ratifies EU Constitution 
 
 
THIS MESSAGE IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. 
 
1.  (U) On May 11, the Austrian parliament voted to 
ratify the EU Constitution.  Only one MP, Barbara 
Rosenkranz (Freedom Party), voted "no."  In the debate 
that preceded the vote, government representatives 
stressed that the EU Constitution would bring the member 
states together to shape a social, peaceful and 
economically efficient Europe.  Opposition Social 
Democrats and Greens also spoke in favor of the 
constitution, but criticized the government for failing 
to educate the public sufficiently about the EU 
Constitution, and for not pushing hard enough for an EU- 
wide referendum on the new constitution. 
 
2.  (SBU) Just before the vote, Joerg Haider, Carinthian 
Governor and head of the Future Alliance Austria (BZO, 
the junior partner in the federal coalition), called for 
an Austrian referendum on the EU Constitution.  Haider, 
joined by the mass-circulation daily "Kronenzeitung" and 
a few constitutional law experts, argued that adoption of 
the Constitutional Treaty would amount to a fundamental 
change in Austria's constitutional system, and therefore 
necessitated a referendum.  Haider's reasoning was a bit 
tortuous.  He explained that BZO MPs would vote to 
ratify, but he would then try to sue to force a 
referendum.  Neither the state government of Carinthia 
nor the incumbent BZO ministers supported his position, 
however, so that his initiative appears still-born. 
 
3.  (SBU) Chancellor Schuessel rejected Haider's call, 
pointing out with its 1995 EU accession Austria had 
already recognized the precedence of EU over Austrian 
law, making a national referendum unnecessary.  Legal 
challenges via the Constitutional Court are still 
possible, but given the history of previous court 
rulings, have little chance of success.  Pro-forma 
confirmation by Parliament's upper house, consisting of 
representatives of the states, is a foregone conclusion. 
That last step may take place on May 25. 
 
BROWN