Parliament Approves Future Fund Law

UNCLAS VIENNA 003417

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/OHI AND EUR/AGS (VIKMANIS-KELLER)

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KNAR PHUM PGOV AU
SUBJECT: Parliament Approves Future Fund Law

REF: Vienna 3026 and previous


1. On October 19, the Austrian Parliament approved the
Law on the Future Fund and the Scholarship Foundation,
which will disburse part of the surplus of the
Reconciliation Fund for Nazi-era forced and slave
laborers. However, according to MFA sources, the GoA
postponed action on the GSF amendment pending resolution
of the Whiteman suit.


2. The governing coalition parties, the People's Party
(OVP) and BZOE (Alliance Future Austria) voted for the
law, which establishes endowments of 25 million euros for
the Scholarship Foundation for youth from Eastern Europe,
as well as 20 million euros for the Future Fund to
finance projects to address past injustices committed
under "totalitarian regimes and tyranny." Opposition
Social Democrats and Greens voted against the measure on
the grounds that the bill excluded Parliament from the
process of appointing the management of the Fund and the
Foundation. The opposition also criticized the goal of
the Future Fund, saying that it diluted the original
purpose of the Reconciliation Fund (to address injustices
committed under National Socialism).

VAN VOORST