AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: November 24, 2006

UNCLAS VIENNA 003400 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/AGS, INR/EU, AND EUR/PPD FOR YVETTE SAINT-ANDRE OSD FOR COMMANDER CHAFFEE WHITEHOUSE FOR NSC/WEUROPE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KPAO AU OPRC SUBJECT: AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: November 24, 2006 SPOe and OeVP Divided Over Bank Committee ¶1. An expert opinion on the bank investigation committee, compiled by the Chancellor's Office, is threatening to strain even further the already critical coalition negotiations between the SPOe and the OeVP. The expert opinion concluded there was no obligation to provide documents or compel state officials to testify before the committee. According to this expert opinion, the Financial Markets Supervisory Agency cannot be investigated by the bank committee. Criticism centers on the concept that the committee is a state institution that is not subject to parliamentary control. According to Josef Cap from the SPOe, this is "unthinkable" - for him, it is clear that "Parliament has to have the last word," quotes mass circulation daily "Kurier." For Werner Kogler from the Greens, this would make a change in the law necessary. He is quoted by the daily as saying that "the Court of Audit, a parliamentary institution, checks National Bank and the Financial Markets Supervisory Agency -- and yet parliamentarians aren't allowed to do the same? There is something wrong with that." According to centrist daily "Die Presse," another controversial point is timing: According to the SPOe, the Chancellor had requested the expert opinion three days before suggesting compilation of such an opinion to his co-negotiator Alfred Gusenbauer. VP Parliamentarian Guenter Stummvoll denied this, saying the opinion presented to the Chancellor by his own office three days before his meeting with Gusenbauer was "only a shortened version." Internal SPOe Quarrel About Tuition Fees ¶2. SPOe education spokesman Josef Broukal has been sharply reprimanded by his party for his readiness to bend on the issue of tuition fees. His suggestion to maintain tuition fees but give interest-free loans to students who are ineligible for financial aid and have to earn money on the side met with resistance from students as well as from other SPOe politicians. The Provincial Governor of Burgenland, Hans Niessel, immediately denied that Broukal's proposal represented an SPOe position, and instead is Broukal's "private opinion." According to independent daily "Der Standard," Niessel asserted that the "official SPOe position has in no way changed." In this, he was seconded by other SP officials, among them Erwin Niederwieser, SP spokesman on educational issues. For the student parliament OeH, Broukal's suggestion sounded like "an OeVP proposal," and OeVP Minister of Education Elisabeth Gehrer was quick to point out that Broukal's suggestion of a student loan model was already implemented by the current government. She applauded Broukal's "apparent readiness to keep the tuition fees," writes the daily. Schuessel Wants to Remain in Politics ¶3. In an interview with mass circulation provincial daily "Kleine Zeitung," Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel asserted his intention to remain in politics, but left open the question of which function he would assume. The primary goal now is to get coalition negotiations moving, Schuessel said. A possible future SPOe/OeVP coalition would have to solve bigger problems than just the Eurofighter and tuition fees issues - it will have to find answers to the problems of migration, an aging society and climate change, the Chancellor said. Looking back on previous grand coalitions, Schuessel praised the coalition from 1989 to 1995 as the most productive. Working up to the Austrian EU accession and the rediscovery of Central Europe, the coalition had done well, but after that, the social partners, especially the trade unions, had stalled, for instance on the crucial issue of pension reform. "That cut off the lifeline of the grand coalition," Schuessel said. The project could only be revived if both sides profited, rather than a situation where there is "a hero and a loser." With regard to his own political future, Schuessel refused to comment on speculation he would go to Brussels, and did not rule out that he could be part of the next government. In the interview, he stressed that he would only recommend his party accept the result of the negotiations "if I am convinced that there is life in this project and I could be part of it with a clear conscience." Iraqi Women Politicians in Vienna ¶4. Iraqi parliamentarian and women's rights activist Rajaa al-Khuzai, one of three women in the previous Iraqi interim government, and her daughter Daliya Sahwkat participated in a press breakfast Nov. 22. The two Iraqis led a discussion on the situation of women in Iraq, organized by Embassy Vienna PAS that afternoon at the Amerika Haus. According to mass circulation daily "Kurier" and centrist daily "Die Presse," the two women mostly complained at a press event organized by the Vienna NGO Women Without Borders about the self-isolation of Iraqi women due to the catastrophic security situation. While their legal situation has improved since Saddam Hussein's dictatorial reign, they are now afraid to leave their homes. Al-Khuzai defended the US invasion and stated that "despite all the bad things that are happening at present, we have a better life now than we had in the times of the dictatorship under Saddam;" her 24-year-old daughter agreed, but pointed out that life for young Iraqi women has become more difficult. She would like to "just live a normal life," but that is not possible in Iraq now. EU-Russia Agreement Dead Before Helsinki Summit ¶5. Even before the EU-Russia summit begins in Helsinki on Friday, it is clear there will be no cooperation agreement between the Union and Russia. Poland has already vetoed the prospective agreement in anger over Russia's blocking of Polish meat imports. Now Russia is threatening to block meat imports from the entire EU. This controversy is threatening to get the summit off to a decidedly bad start, actually strengthening Moscow by giving it the opportunity to divide the Union, writes centrist daily "Die Presse." For the "old" EU states, a functioning energy partnership is even more important than human rights issues, while the "new" EU states feel threatened by Moscow. In view of the unfortunate alliance between a strong Russia and a divided Europe, EU experts fear the worst: "The relations between the EU and Russia moves from one crisis to the next ," concludes Neil Melvin of the European Centre for Policy Studies in Brussels, pointing out that the EU, with its internal quarrels, is playing into Moscow's hands. Putin did not really want a new agreement anyway, Melvin stated. Meanwhile, the Russian President is trying to disprove such allegations: He called for further talks even after the Polish veto, writes "Die Presse." Ex-Spy Presumably Poisoned ¶6. Former Russian spy and prominent Kremlin critic Alexander Litwinenko died Thursday night in a London hospital after a three-week ordeal. In a last interview before his death, he spoke of a poison attack ordered by the Kremlin to silence him. According to doctors at the University College Hospital where he underwent treatment, Alexander Litwinenko died of heart failure. However, Scotland Yard is investigating on the grounds of "unknown cause of death," writes ORF online. The Kremlin critic fell ill after a meeting with an Italian security expert in a London sushi restaurant in early November. According to Alexander Goldfarb, a friend of Litwinenko, he was the victim of a Kremlin conspiracy. The former spy was allegedly researching the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. He had lived in London since 2002 and had political refugee status. Meanwhile, the Russian delegation in Helsinki, where Putin will be facing critical questions from journalists about Litwinenko's death, has rejected charges that the Russian President is behind the alleged poisoning of Litwinenko. The Russian intelligence service FSB has likewise denied any responsibility. Dutch Prime Minister Without Partners ¶7. After the election in the Netherlands, Prime Minister Balkenende finds himself without an obvious coalition partner - although his Christian Democrats have won, they cannot govern: His coalition no longer has a majority in Parliament and new partners are nowhere in sight. His liberal coalition partner VVD headed by controversial Minister of Immigration Rita Verdonk lost heavily and not even a grand coalition with the Social Democrats will work: They lost ten seats and now have only 32. Balkenende spoke of a "complicated result." Populists from the margins of the right and left took votes away from the traditional parties, independent daily "Salzburger Nachrichten" sums up the Dutch election results. The populists are united in their rejection of an EU constitution, for which reason "SN's" foreign affairs writer Stephan Israel concludes "there is no brave signal from The Hague of a new beginning - rather there is a signal to return to a time before globalization. The EU could be the solution for globalization and protection against social dismantling. But to do that, it would have to be equipped by its member states with the necessary powers, which a constitution could have provided. However, no election campaign can be won by putting Europe in its center." Phillips