AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: August 9, 2007

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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