Sunday May 27 8:06 AM ET

Haider Lashes Schroeder, Schuessel After Visit

VIENNA (Reuters) - Austrian far-right leader Joerg Haider lashed out at German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder after his visit to Vienna Saturday, saying he had behaved like a 19th century feudal lord.

In a statement to APA news agency late Saturday, Haider also accused Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel of having lacked the nerve to rebuke Schroeder when he defended last year's sanctions against Austria by its EU partners.

Schroeder said he did not regret having taken part in political sanctions imposed after Haider's anti-foreigner Freedom Party entered government last year, but this was now in the past.

``Schroeder behaves like a 19th century feudal lord with his fat cigar and his grand style,'' Haider said in a statement to APA issued through his press spokesman.

Austria's EU partners, which question the Freedom Party's democratic credentials, froze bilateral political contacts with Vienna for eight months after the coalition with Schuessel's conservative People's Party was sworn in in February 2000.

The sanctions were lifted after an EU-appointed panel gave the country a clean bill of health for its human rights record.

But although Schuessel and Schroeder both pledged to work together constructively, the German leader underlined the frosty nature of relations by spending more time in Vienna with the Social Democratic opposition than with the government.

He also refused to meet Freedom Party ministers.

Haider, provincial governor of Carinthia, still dominates the Freedom Party despite resigning as leader last year.

In his statement, Haider said Schroeder's defense of the sanctions contrasted with the attitude of other EU politicians who he said now acknowledged that Austria had been treated unjustly.

The populist leader said Schuessel should have challenged Schroeder at their joint news conference when the German leader said he did not regret the sanctions.

``Schuessel did not have the nerve to repudiate Schroeder's statements or at least clarify them,'' he said.

Haider has made a series of vitriolic attacks on foreign leaders, including Schroeder, whom he recently called an idiot.

Schuessel delivered a mild implicit rebuke to his coalition partner at Saturday's news conference, saying it was not right to use inappropriate language about the leaders of friendly countries.

But he said other European politicians had been guilty of using intemperate language about Austria.

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