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