AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: September 05, 2006

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SUBJECT: AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: September 05, 2006


SPOe and LIF Join Forces


1. The Social Democrats (SPOe) have entered an "election alliance"
with the Liberal Forum (LIF) by providing the party one space for a
parliamentary seat on their federal ballot list in an effort to
broaden the Social Democrat's overall appeal to voters in the
upcoming general election. SPOe leader Alfred Gusenbauer said he
hoped the move would show that "the SPOe is a very broad movement
which can also be attractive to liberal voters." The decision has
created a rift within the Liberal Forum, with some members leaving
the party over what they call a "critical move."
According to Gusenbauer, the move is aimed at preventing formation
of yet another coalition between the People's Party (OeVP) and the
Alliance for Austria's Future (BZOe),as well as guaranteeing
parliamentary representation for those who support the LIF's
political platform. LIF leader Alexander Zach explained that the
"olive tree alliance" of Italian premier Romano Prodi served as a
model for the collaborative scheme.
Semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung quotes Austrian political analyst
Peter Filzmaier as saying he considers the move risky. He believes
that, although they could attract some new voters, the SPOe could
also lose votes to the Greens as a result of joining forces with an
economically liberal party. Others, such as Wolfgang Bachmayer of
the OGM market research institute and Guenther Ogris of the SORA
research group, think the new strategy is a positive step. According
to Bachmayer, the move may have a "psychological effect," signaling
that the SPOe has become stronger and more modern. Ogris said he
believes the SPV can only stand to gain and only a small number of
voters will be put off by the move.


Home Care Personnel Soon Legal


2. Economics Minister Martin Bartenstein (OeVP) presented draft
legislation on Monday which would allow foreign home care personnel
- those who care for the sick and elderly -- to work legally in
Austria by eliminating the seven-year transition period required for
private personnel from other EU countries.
Semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung reports that Bartenstein's draft
proposal will go through a four-week review process. Revision will
therefore continue after the general election October 1. However,
the Minister is optimistic the new law can enter into force on
November 1. The OeVP's junior collation partner BZOe, however, says
it opposes the move.


EU to Create Immigration Commissioner?


3. The European Commission is reported to be considering creating a
new position to deal with immigration. Sources in Brussels say the
post of Immigration Commissioner could be created when Bulgaria and
Romania join the EU in 2008. There is growing pressure on the EU to
take action on immigration, as thousands of illegal immigrants are
arriving by sea from Africa.
In mass-circulation daily Kurier, Brussels correspondent Margarethe
Kopeinig suggests the EU needs to solve the problem of refugees from
Africa "for reasons of self-interest, and not because of
compassion." The EU leaders are well aware that illegal immigrants
"won't be stopped by laws or walls." However, they have "so far
failed to muster the courage to come up with a clear immigration
concept." All this, despite the fact that - according to Kopeinig -
it "does not require any lofty moral standards to do so; cool
rationality would already go a long way" toward finding a solution.
"From an intellectual point of view, we know that something has to
happen in Europe's backyard to prevent people from fleeing their
countries," she says, suggesting "better perspectives, money and
food. Even more wretched conditions in Africa will not make Europe
safer. Even the populists know that. If Europe does not want to
import instability, insecurity and terrorism, it will have to stem
the flow of immigrants in cooperation with Africa. Helping them to
help themselves does not seem to be such a bad strategy."


Operation Medusa


4. More and more often, NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan need to
carry out large-scale operations against Taliban troops. Currently,
"Operation Medusa" is aimed at driving out of the south and east of
the country those Islamists who came in from Pakistan and are
controlling large parts of Kandahar province. Although NATO claims
many Islamist fighters are killed in such operations, terrorists
have repeatedly managed to get as far as Kabul. Meanwhile, the
record poppy harvest is also strengthening the Taliban.
Chief editor Viktor Hermann suggests in independent provincial daily
"Salzburger Nachrichten" that Afghanistan is "failing again." He
comments: "Afghanistan is on its way back to being a 'failed state.'
(...) Initially, the efforts at depriving terrorists of their home
base by driving out the Taliban regime seemed to work. But the US
and its allies made the same mistake in Afghanistan as they did
later in Iraq: Too few troops, too little money, no sensible concept
for building up new government structure in the country. (...) What
we're dealing with here is not some 'unfortunate operation,' but a
hopelessly wrong concept. (...) Bit by bit the Taliban are wresting
the country back from the government in Kabul and its western
allies."


Iran Talks in Vienna


5. The European Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana and
Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani are expected to meet in
Vienna tomorrow for talks on Iran's nuclear program. The meeting,
which has not been officially confirmed, is likely to be the last
opportunity to avoid a new push for sanctions against Iran at the UN
Security Council.
Foreign affairs writer for liberal daily "Der Standard" Michael
Moravec comments on the Iranian nuclear conflict: "With its Security
Council resolution, the UN obliged Iran by international law to
suspend its nuclear program. The deadline passed, and nothing
happened. (...) The international community's inability to solve the
problem is likely to end disastrously. According to the foreign
minister of one major EU country, Iran is headed straight for the
atomic bomb. There is no other way to explain Tehran's blathering.
(...) An Iran which supports Hezbollah and Hamas, and is in
possession of nuclear weapons, is a global policy nightmare that
should frighten even China and Russia. But for those two countries
economic advantages seem to count more."
McCaw