AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: June 06, 2007

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SUBJECT: AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: June 06, 2007


Parliament Approves New Laws


1. On Tuesday, the Austrian parliament approved a major reform of
the election laws, lowering the legal voting age to 16 and extending
the legislative period to five years.
Semi-official daily "Wiener Zeitung" reports on the new legislation,
which applies to national elections, but also requires provincial
governments to likewise lower the voting age within six months. Some
provinces have already introduced the measure. Education in politics
will begin at a younger age in Austrian schools. The extension of
the legislative period from four to five years will begin with the
next government. Parliament also approved three ombudsmen and
-women. They are Peter Kostelka of the Social Democrats (SPOe),
Maria Fekter of the People's Party (OeVP),and Terezija Stoisits of
the Greens.

New Director for the State Opera to Be Appointed


2. Minister for Cultural Affairs Claudia Schmied intends to appoint
a new director for the Vienna State Opera on Wednesday after
consultations with Federal Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer. Possible
candidates for the position are Neil Shicoff, Christian Thielemann
and Franz Welser-Mst. In addition, Dominique Mayer, head of the
Parisian Theatre des Champs-Elysees, has now been brought into the
discussion as a possible successor of the current Director Ioan
Holender. He is the surprise candidate favored by the Vienna
Philharmonic. [Der Standard, p. 1 and 31]


60th Anniversary of Marshall Plan


3. ORF TV in its prime time news program (Zeit im Bild) reports on
the 60th anniversary of the Marshall Plan, which was celebrated in
Vienna's Upper Belvedere Palace yesterday. The report quotes one of
the key-note speakers, US Ambassador Susan McCaw, as saying that
Austria benefited immensely from the Marshall Plan and that even
though "Austria would have recovered from World War II without the
Marshall Plan, the ERP helped accelerate Austria's recovery." The
Ambassador stated that the Marshall Plan was not just about economic
aid, but was also an investment in the future security and stability
of Europe, the U.S. and the world. Austria's Economics Minister
Bartenstein praised the ERP, which still exist today.
The Austrian Press Agency reports that at the ceremony a Memorandum
of Understanding was signed by the US and Austria to use ERP funds
to support an exchange program for Austrian and American students.
According to semi-official daily "Wiener Zeitung," Foreign Minister
Ursula Plassnik has suggested a plan for aid to developing countries
along the lines of the Marshall Plan. She said that the US and the
EU should work together to assist poorer countries in the world. The
EU already pays for half of the development assistance worldwide.
Mass circulation tabloid "Heute" also reports on the anniversary
event.

Don't Be Afraid Vladimir


4. All Austrian print and broadcast media are reporting on the G-8
summit of major industrial nations that opens today in Heiligendamm,
Germany, amid a row between Washington and Moscow over a US missile
defense system.
Independent daily Salzburger Nachrichten writes that in a speech in
Prague on Tuesday, President Bush tried to mollify President Putin's
recent criticism of the defense system by assuring him that Russia
does not need to fear the system and offering Putin the opportunity
to join it.
In the same speech, Bush also criticized the democracy deficits in
Russia and China, writes centrist daily "Die Presse." He complained
that the reforms in Russia were "off track" - a development that has
serious consequences for democracy and has to be discussed. The
Kremlin rejected Bush's criticism immediately, saying that Russia
was "a democratic country, which shares the common values of the
world and Europe."
Despite Bush's offer to Putin to participate in missile defense, it
is feared that the conflict over this issue will overshadow the
other central issues of the summit such as assistance for Africa and
climate protection, writes the daily. Foreign affairs writer for
independent daily "Der Standard" Christoph Winder comments on the
missile defense debate: "The American argument that the missile
defense system is defensive sounds plausible. It is hardly to be
assumed that merely ten missiles could overturn the entire military
strategy concept of the Russians." Why then, asks Winder, "is the
atmosphere between America and Russia ... so extremely strained?" He
sees the main reason for this in political symbolism and argues that
"[t]he macho poses of the Cold War have by no means been overcome.
However, the global challenges have changed so much over the last
years that frivolous mock attacks as can be observed around this
issue, are more superfluous than ever."

Washington Cuts Funds for Climate Research


5. Headlines liberal daily "Der Standard" and reports that the US is
planning to send only four - and not six - satellites into space to
research global warming. The Pentagon cited technical problems and
increased costs as the reasons for the change. Climate change is
one of the major topics at the G-8 summit.
The recent announcement of the US administration's intention to cut
substantially the funds for climate protection comes at a time when
everything seemed to be going smoothly: Last week, the US, China,
Japan and Canada had outlined their concepts for an action plan
against global warming, writes the daily, adding that G-8 summit
hostess Angela Merkel only had to weave the threads together. Still,
the US administration assured Merkel that it did not want to "take
the stage" with the President's proposal that the 15 biggest
polluters should agree on a common emission target by the end of

2008. The dialy quoted US National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley
as saying that this proposal was "[a]n attempt to move forward" and
"an opportunity for Angela Merkel to lead this summit to success."
On Wednesday, before the actual start of the summit, Bush will meet
with Germany's Federal Chancellor for lunch. Afterwards, Merkel will
also hold individual meetings with Sarkozy, Prodi and Putin.

US Judge Sentenced Former Key White House Official Lewis "Scooter"
Libby to 30 Months in Prison


6. The media reports that Libby remains free pending appeal. Libby
was found guilty of obstruction of justice and perjury in March
relating to the investigation into the unmasking of CIA officer
Valerie Plame. Libby was the former chief of staff to Vice-President
Dick Cheney.
McCaw