EU hypocrisy over Haider

In democracy, the first democratic principle is to respect the consensus reached in a democratic way. In Austria's last elections, Joerg Haider won 27 percent of the ballots and this is exactly the reason why Austria's People's Party is dealing with him to shape the new government. The first principle of tolerance is never to judge an individual a priori, by his skin color, religion or political belief. Haider has been branded as a fascist, a pro-Nazi and an anti-Semitic; the tolerant European Union has thereby proven to be guilty of that intolerance for which it condemns the reprobate.

By asserting its noble principles, the European Union is guilty of hypocrisy. In fact, it threatens to severe its bilateral political ties with Austria, but not its economic ones. Money as usual is a tabu question.

When a principle is violated, we know where we start but not where we end. We begin in name of "humanitarian interference" and end by forbidding a nation to choose its own government.

-- Il Tempo, Rome