The Austrian constitutional court has decided not to impeach its president, who has been involved a war of words with the former head of the far-right Freedom Party, Joerg Haider.

Mr Haider had accused the judge, Ludwig Adamovich, of unworthy conduct in a row over bilingual road signs.

Mr Adamovich took the unusual step of launching impeachment proceedings against himself - in order to put Mr Haider's attack to the test.

The court found in Mr Adamovich's favour.

The row centres on place name signs in the southern province of Carinthia, where Mr Haider is governor.

Sign dispute

In December, the constitutional court ruled that communities where more than 10% of the population are ethnic Slovenes, should have signs in both German and Slovenian.

Previously the guidelines had covered only communities where 25% were ethnic Slovenes.

Mr Haider said he would defy the ruling and allow no more bilingual signs.

He also called for the president of the court to resign, accusing him of discussing the street sign issue with the Slovenian President, Milan Kucan - which Mr Adamovich denied.

Resignation call

Opposition politicians said Mr Haider's attack on the constitutional court and its president were dangerous for the independence of the judiciary.

They have called for his resignation from politics.

Mr Haider has insisted he will not resign, describing the court's decision as wrong.