Rival parties agree not to hold early elections
Austria's far-right Freedom Party has withdrawn its call for early elections.
It has eased a government crisis triggered by a bitter dispute over the party's threat to block EU membership for the Czech Republic.
Freedom Party leader Susanne Riess-Passer, who serves as Austria's vice chancellor, said parliamentary elections would not be held before the Czech Republic holds its own elections this summer.
The announcement avoids what many had feared could be the imminent collapse of Austria's fragile coalition government.
"To quote from Mark Twain: `The reports of our death have been greatly exaggerated,'" said Andreas Khol, parliamentary leader of the right-of-centre People's Party, which has shared power with the Freedom Party since early 2000 in an uneasy coalition.
The standoff began after the Freedom Party - known for its anti-foreigner and anti-EU stance and its outspoken former leader, the nationalist Joerg Haider - launched a campaign to pressure Czech officials to close the trouble-plagued Temelin nuclear plant.
More than 900,000 Austrians have signed a party petition warning the Czech Republic that if it doesn't shutter the plant, it could face an Austrian government veto when it eventually joins the European Union.
Although it backed off its call for early elections, Riess-Passer said the Freedom Party "will not ignore the results of the petition." The signatures represented more than 15 percent of the alpine nation's population.
Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel and other Austrian leaders have accused the Freedom Party of mounting a xenophobic campaign aimed at stopping the EU from taking in the former communist nations of Eastern Europe. The Czech Republic and several other eastern countries are expected to join as early as 2004.
