Austria's Haider Resigns As Freedom Party Chairman Updated 5:29 p.m. ET (2229 GMT) February 28, 2000

Austrian far-right leader Joerg Haider, whose party's inclusion in Austria's new government sparked international protests, resigned as head of the Freedom Party Monday, party officials said.

Achim Bieniek/Reuters

Far-right Freedom Party leader Joerg Haider at an executive meeting of the FPO Monday

Austrian sources reached by FOX News Channel confirmed the information.

Rumors that Haider was planning to resign at an executive meeting of the party Monday night had been building up throughout the day.

Haider, 50, who had been heading the Freedom Party since 1986, is best known for controversial remarks playing down the crimes of the Nazis and or his anti-foreigner statements.

His resignation is seen as an effort to reduce international criticism of the new coalition government, which includes his rightists as well as a center-right party.

Haider, who holds no post in the national government, was expected to continue as governor of the southeastern province of Carinthia.

The Austria Press Agency quoted party sources as saying Haider will be succeeded as party chief by his trusted lieutenant, Vice Chancellor Susanne Riess-Passer, 39. Peter Sichrovsky, a Freedom Party member of the European Parliament, said Haider had indicated at the weekend that he might announce his resignation Monday night.

"We talked about it at an internal meeting Saturday," Sichrovsky told reporters before the party meeting.

"I would be in favor. I believe he has a right to do this because he has already achieved more than anybody else. If that is his decision, we must all respect it and support him."

Austria has faced a barrage of international protest since Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel was sworn in on February 4 as head of a coalition of his own People's Party and Haider's Freedom Party, even though Haider is not in the new cabinet.

Austria's 14 European Union partners froze bilateral political contacts with Vienna after the new government took office.

U.S. Points Out Freedom Party Still in Government

In the U.S., State Department spokesman James Rubin commented that the resignation "couldn't hurt".

"If true, it would be a step in the right direction, Rubin said. "But Mr. Haider is still part of the party, he's still a governor and... we'll be watching their behavior." Rubin concluded: "This doesn't change our concerns — the Freedom Party itself is still part of the government."

The U.S. ambassador to Vienna, Kathryn Hall, met Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in Washington on Monday to brief her on the latest developments in Austria, where a coalition including the Freedom Party took office this month.

The United States and its allies in western Europe reacted with dismay to the formation of the coalition, mainly because of Haider's controversial remarks on Austria's Nazi past.

It is Hall's second visit to Washington for consultations since the new Austrian government came to power.

Sichrovsky indicated that resignation as party leader need not mean the end of Haider's political career, saying it would enable Haider to concentrate on his job as provincial governor of Carinthia.

"That would be his calling-card for a future role, perhaps as Chancellor," he added.

The fact that no senior party officials denied the reports appeared to add substance to them. However, Haider, who takes pride in his unpredictability, has threatened to quit on more than one occasion in the past but subsequently failed to do so.

The Tuesday editions of the Kronen Zeitung and Kurier newspapers, published Monday afternoon, both reported that Haider was considering stepping down as party leader in order to help reduce a storm of international criticism of Austria.

— The AP and Reuters contributed to this report

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