REPEAT: MNI: Italy Sees Vienna Border Affairs Move A "Threat"

Repeats Story Initially Transmitted at 08:20 GMT Dec 19/03:20 EST Dec 19

--Offer Of Austrian Passport to South Tyrol German Speakers Undermines EU 

--Attack Against Italian Sovereignty "Unacceptable"

     ROME (MNI) - The proposed offer of Austrian citizenship to German-speaking

Italians living in Italy's northern border region of Alto Adige by Vienna's new

coalition government has been condemned as a "sovereign threat" by leading

Italian officials, Market News understands.

     The new Austrian government of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz is using the iron

fist of ethnic nationalism that favours divisions based upon linguistic and

ethnic origin, which is unacceptable," Rome's Undersecretary of State for

Foreign Affairs, Benedetto della Vedova, told MNI.

     The move is an 'ideological push' by Austria's coalition partner, the

far-right and nationalist Freedom Party of Heinz-Christian Strache, della Vedova

added. 

     South Tyrol, with roughly 600,000 residents, was annexed by Italy at the

end of the Second world war. Over 98% of residents are of German ethnicity and

many have often called for a referendum to reunite with Austria. 

     Strache's proposal, centred on issuing an Austrian passport to all

German-speakers, extends also to local athletes who can chose whether to compete

for Italy or Austria at future Olympics.

     Della Vedova warned, however, that Vienna's unexpected move was more than

just an intrusion and sovereign attack against Italy, saying much more was at

stake for the survival and future of the whole European Union. 

     "Italy has long tackled, and with extraordinary results, the thorny issue

of linguistic minorities at our borders" and it has settled it with an

extraordinary, special regional statute that grants Alto Adige and other 5

Italian regions greater legislative autonomy, he noted.

     By granting mass citizenship to German-speakers, the Austrian government's

"offer" might off-set a dangerous domino-effect across the union, and especially

in those critical places like the Balkans, where ethnicity has long represented

a problem, argued Della Vedova.

     "The concrete and dangerous risk is a return to the definition of states

based upon ethnic and ideological belonging, putting an end to years of hard-won

peaceful, open and multi-cultural co-living among different people thanks to the

European integration project. The most worrying aspect is that we all know where

such propaganda leads to: a confrontation based on the use of force," he said.

     In Della Vedova's view, Austria's move, by bringing it into the open, has

exasperated the ongoing clashes across the bloc between nationalists and

pro-Europeans.

     Several of Vienna's new government members have often proposed an exit from

the euro, he recalled. Della Vedova expressed confidence that Rome's government

would make an "official move" to via through diplomatic channels Vienna to state

its position. 

     Italian nationalist groups, paradoxically, share the same view. 

     Carlo Fidanza, founder of former fascist party Fratelli d'Italia and an

ally of ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi at Italy's next elections, warned Austria

that "if it cares about future relations with Italy, it should reconsider its

stance".

     "We cannot accept an attack against Italy's sovereignty, therefore it is

unthinkable that we could ever tolerate having a limited sovereignty on a large

chuck of our own Italian territory," said Fidanza. 

--MNI London Bureau; tel: +44 203-586-2225; email: les.commons@marketnews.com