Austria calls for Benelux-style alliance among Central Europe's EU members

Central European countries should club together with Austria once they become European Union (EU) members to bolster their influence against the heavyweight member states, Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel said yesterday. Schuessel said EU candidate countries such as Poland, Slovenia, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic could cooperate with Austria in the same way as Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands forged a Benelux alliance to push policy matters. "Bearing in mind the common Central European atmosphere, the interests and goals we share...a Benelux model of cooperation within the new EU would be possible," Schuessel told a news conference during an official visit to Slovenia. Schuessel said by 2005 the EU would have up to 25 members, making it difficult for small and medium-sized countries to make their voices heard. "The big countries will agree among themselves very quickly and the smaller countries could soon be marginalized," Schuessel said. (Reuters)