Row over pro-Nazi remarks by Austrian politician not subsiding 

Pressure is rising on Siegfried Kampl, a member of the Austrian Bundesrat, the upper chamber of parliament, to take consequences following his recent remark about the "brutal persecution of Nazis" in Austria after t the Second World War. In his remarks received with widespread consternation, Kampl also described some of the deserters from Hitler's army as "murderers of comrades". Kampl, a long-standing politician of the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) who has switched to Jörg Haider's new Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ), is due under a rotational system to take over the presidency of the Bundesrat in July for the second half of this year. Austria's Federal President Heinz Fischer said that in legal terms, Kampl's presidency could not be revoked. But in barely concealed words, Fischer said Kampl should not accept the office, adding: "Thank goodness there is still time to think things over." Fischer said that military resistance during the Nazi era deserved "our respect. May I express the wish that this position be taken clearly." BZÖ leader Haider, who in the past was himself in trouble over remarks involving Nazism, said he could imagine that Kampl were replaced as president by another BZÖ member. But he added that Kampl was "a constructive fellow".