AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: August 9, 2007

UNCLAS VIENNA 002099 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: OPRC KPAO AU SUBJECT: AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: August 9, 2007 Key Day in Bawag Trial ¶1. Austrian media expect Thursday will be another important day in the bank Bawag trial currently underway in Vienna. Presiding Judge Claudia Bandion-Ortner has announced she intends to shed light on details of the "management agreement" between the Bawag and investment banker Wolfgang Floettl, whose disastrous currency speculations lost the bank millions of Euros. Like all Austrian media reporting on the bank Bawag trial, semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung points to the "massive accusations" raised against defendant and former bank CEO Helmut Elsner: Some of his colleagues from the bank's management board are claiming that Elsner had "deceived" them with regard to the actual value of investment banker Wolfgang Floettl's collection of paintings, which were sold in an attempt to pay off the Bawag's debts from failed currency speculations. Elsner is now believed to have represented the paintings above value in discussions with the management board, in order to gloss over the losses incurred in the bank's so-called Caribbean deals, the Wiener Zeitung says. Cabinet Discusses Tax Reform ¶2. At the traditional special cabinet meeting during summer recess, the government coalition partners SPOe and OeVP seem to have agreed on not bringing forward tax reform, but to implement such measures in 2010, as initially planned. Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer from the Social Democrats underscored that "this government's motto is to save money and invest in the future." The Chancellor also said he wants to exploit the current economic boom to reduce the country's budget deficit. Liberal daily Der Standard, reporting like all Austrian media on yesterday's special cabinet meeting, quotes Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer as stressing that regarding tax reform, reducing the budget deficit was more important than cutting taxes. Therefore, the next round of tax reform would not occur before 2010. The daily comments that with this statement, the Social Democrats have departed for good from their election campaign promise to implement tax cuts for medium income earners as quickly as possible. Opposition to Kdolsky's Child Benefit Policy ¶3. Minister for Health and Family Issues Andrea Kdolsky from the OeVP is meeting with stiff opposition to her policy demanding Austrians must pay back the child benefit payments they received, if the parents in question were above the legally permitted additional income limit. Reporting on the dispute that has arisen over the question of whether parents who were above the additional income limit while receiving child benefit payments should be made to pay back the money, mass-circulation tabloid Kronen Zeitung runs the front-page headline "Revolt against Minister Kdolsky." The daily says that several provincial health insurance providers, including those in Salzburg, Tyrol and Upper Austria, have rejected Kdolsky's strategy to call on parents to return the money, saying such measures were "unfair." The head of Salzburg province's health insurance company Siegfried Schluckner underscored that "you simply can't do that to young mothers," the Kronen Zeitung quotes. US Consulate to Collect 10 Fingerprints from Visa Applicants ¶4. According to an Austrian Press Agency report, the US Consulate in Vienna will begin collecting ten fingerprints from all immigrant and non-immigrant visa applicants as of August 9, 2007. The change from two-fingerprint to ten-fingerprint scans does not apply to Visa Waiver Program travelers, who will go through the ten-fingerprint process upon entering the United States. Only those applying for visas will go through the process at the US Consulate in Vienna. Austrian Press Agency APA on August 8 published a PAS-organized press release explaining that the US Consulate in Vienna will begin collecting ten fingerprints from all immigrant and non-immigrant visa applicants on August 9, 2007. This "technology is more accurate and produces fewer 'false positive' matches," according to the release. However, there is "no change in the requirements regarding those who must provide fingerprints during interviews conducted at the Consulate. Applicants for diplomatic or official visa classes, and applicants under 14 or over 79 years of age, are exempt from the fingerprint requirement." The new process only applies to persons applying for visas at US consulates, while Visa Waiver Program travelers, including those from Austria, will go through the ten-fingerprint process upon entering the United States. APA also quotes from the release that the United States is "committed to the concept of 'secure borders and open doors' by facilitating travel of international visitors to the US in a manner that is safe and secure. Meanwhile, both liberal daily Der Standard and mass-circulation daily Kurier report that the EU is contemplating a tightening of its own immigration requirements. The move, according to the Kurier, is in response to US plans to introduce additional requirement for travelers to the United States. As of next year, Washington wants to introduce an electronic immigration permit for visitors from EU member states: The measure would require travelers to register online and fill out an internet form at least 48 hours prior to their departure for the US, the Kurier explains, and adds that Congress has already passed the respective law. The daily goes on to report that EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini has informed US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that the European Union could - as a countermeasure - introduce similar online registration requirements for US visitors to the EU. Ambassador at Beach Volleyball Event ¶5. An Austrian mass-circulation weekly briefly notes that US Ambassador to Austria Susan McCaw and her family attended the A1 Beach Volleyball Grand Slam. The event was staged in Klagenfurt, Carinthia, earlier this month, says mass-circulation weekly News on August 9. No Extradition of Former Kazak Ambassador ¶6. Authorities in Austria have ruled against the extradition of Rakhat Alijev, a political rival of the President of Kazakhstan, arguing he would not get a fair trial in his home country. Alijev, who is wanted in Kazakhstan on kidnapping charges, was the previous Khazak Ambassador to Austria and the former son-in-law of Kazak President Nasarbajev. Alijev denies any wrongdoing, and insists the charges against him are politically motivated, ORF TV's prime time news Zeit im Bild I reported on Wednesday. Pakistan Considering Emergency Rule ¶7. Pakistan's government is reportedly considering the imposition of emergency rule. President Pervez Musharraf is expected to make a decision today at a meeting of senior government representatives. Musharraf is under political pressure after the siege earlier this year of a major Islamabad mosque occupied by radical Islamists, and protests by lawyers over the sacking of Pakistan's Chief Justice. According to the country's Information Minister, Pakistan is facing "internal and external threats, which could justify such a move," according to ORF online news. US Air Strike in Baghdad ¶8. The US military says its forces have killed about 30 militants in an air strike in Baghdad. According to the military, most of them died during a raid in the capital's poor Shiite district of Sadr City yesterday. In addition, twelve people were also detained in the operation. The move came only a day ahead of an important Shiite holiday in Iraq. Austrian media quote the US military as saying the militants were terrorists and part of a network smuggling weapons from Iran, says liberal daily Der Standard. Kilner