Vienna  - A Croatian rock star whose songs some view as glorifying the Nazi era has been invited to the Euro 2008 football championship by Austrian far-right politician Joerg Haider.

Marko Perkovic was slated to perform for Croatian fans in Haider's province of Carinthia on June 7, the tournament's kick-off day, but town officials recently cancelled the show citing security concerns.

Now, Haider invited Perkovic to attend a game - presumably by the Croatian team - "as a sign of Carinthia's hospitality and a gesture of diplomacy," Haider's spokesman Stefan Petzner told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Croatia plays two of three first-round matches in Carinthia, a right-wing stronghold governed by Haider.

Perkovic, a superstar in Croatia, goes by the stage name Thompson - after the American submachine gun he toted for Croatia during the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s.

Critics say his songs glorify the Nazi-backed Ustasha regime that ruled Croatia during World War II and was responsible for the deaths of thousands of Jews, Serbs and other Croats. A Perkovic tour of the United States last year drew protests from Jewish groups.

"I don't see any problem with Thompson's music," Petzner said. "There must be artistic liberty."

Perkovic says his songs are patriotic, but rejects the fascist label. The band performed for Austria's large Croatian community in Vienna in 2007 without stirring protests.

But security officials in Carinthia last month deemed Perkovic's planned concert in the town of St Andrae a security risk, prompting the mayor to ban the show.

Haider made the invitation during a visit last week to Zagreb, Croatia's capital, and was awaiting a reply, Petzner said. (dpa)