AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: August 21, 2007

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SUBJECT: AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: August 21, 2007

Community Service Instead of Prison


1. Austrian Justice Minister Maria Berger of the Social Democrats
(SPOe) has proposed alleviating the problem of overcrowded detention
facilities by offering inmates the choice of parole and community
service. Starting this fall, people convicted of minor offences and
facing fines could avoid serving time in prison by doing various
forms of community service. Legal experts have welcomed the
proposals, but the SPOe's coalition partner, the People's Party
(OeVP),has rejected them. Minister Berger points to the success of
pilot projects in some provincial capitals last year.
Centrist daily Die Presse meanwhile writes that the People's Party,
following its initial opposition to Justice Minister Maria Berger's
proposal of offering people convicted of minor crimes to do
community service instead of serving time in prison, has now said it
could also imagine such measures. Heribert Donnerbauer, the OeVP's
justice spokesperson, told the Presse that "in principle," his party
was "not taking a skeptical stance" on the Minister's plan. It made
sense to convert prison sentences of up to 60 days into community
service time, he said. After all, the proposal would "be worthwhile
and not cost the country money." In addition, mass-circulation
tabloid Kronen Zeitung says, the Justice Minister has also suggested
short-term prison sentences could increasingly be converted into
fines.


Bank Bawag Trial Continues


2. The trial of nine former Bawag bank executives and union
officials, who are charged with varying degrees of fraud leading to
the bank's near collapse and losses totaling some 1.4 billion Euros,
resumed on Monday. At its fifteenth session, the court focused again
on investments made for Bawag by investment banker Wolfgang Floettl
after he had already lost one billion Euros in speculation deals in
the Caribbean. Despite the losses, Floettl received an additional
430 million Euros from the bank in the hope of recouping losses over
a five- to six-year period. Former Bawag CEO Helmut Elsner claimed
that at the time the bank's management and board of directors had
been fully informed about all the money given to Floettl, but his
co-defendants from Bawag management rejected his statements as
untrue.
Reporting on the continuation of the trial of nine former Bawag bank
executives charged with varying degrees of fraud, semi-official
daily Wiener Zeitung says that at its fifteenth session yesterday,
the court focused again on the investments Wolfgang Floettl made for
Bawag, even after he had lost the bank vast amounts of money in
failed speculation deals. Helmut Elsner, a key defendant and former
chief executive at Bawag, Helmut Elsner, continued to blame Floettl
for the disastrous deals, saying that the latter ignored investment
rules and went for riskier products than he was authorized. Floetll,
in turn, claimed that he warned Elsner about the risk, but was told
to take it. In addition, writes liberal daily Der Standard, Elsner
has also incriminated his co-defendant and former Austrian Union
Association (OeGB) finance chief Guenter Weninger, arguing that it
"would have been in Weninger's power to stop the Bawag losses."
Mass-circulation daily Kurier comments that Elsner is apparently
playing a game of cat and mouse with the former Bawag executive
board."


NAFTA Summit in Canada


3. Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper is hosting talks on
regional trade and border security with US President George Bush and
Mexico's President Felipe Calderon in Montebello, near Ottawa,
today. Premier Harper brought up Canada's claim to the Northwest
Passage through the Arctic during a bi-lateral meeting with
President Bush. The US, however, regards the Passage as
international waters. Meanwhile, more than 2,000 people turned up to
protest against globalization and the escalating battle for control
of the Arctic's resources.
ORF online news in its report on the NAFTA summit currently underway
in Canada focuses on the protests and clashes between police and
demonstrators, which have "overshadowed the meeting." Trade and
border agreements, Afghanistan, climate change and the question of
how to distribute political spheres of influence in the Artic, as
well as anti-drug-trade efforts in Latin AMERICA are on the summit's
agenda. Critics have meanwhile accused the NAFTA partnership of
bypassing laws and their respective heads of government, of
"secretiveness," of undemocratic views and of subservience to major
corporations, ORF online news adds.
Turkey Vote Goes To Second Round


4. In Turkey, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has fallen short of
securing a two-thirds majority of votes in the country's Parliament,
which he would need to become the first President with an Islamist
past. However, Mr. Gul is expected to win in a further round next
week, in which a candidate only needs to secure a simple majority of
votes. His push for the Presidency has been fiercely resisted by
Turkish secularists - including army generals and opposition
leaders.
Independent provincial daily Salzburger Nachrichten argues that in
view of the fact that Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul will be
elected President of his country in one week's time at the latest,
he can be "certain of victory, despite yesterday's defeat." However,
secularists are accusing Gul of trying to abuse his powers in order
to push the Islamization of Turkey. The daily also explains that the
Foreign Minister's failure on Monday to secure a two-third majority
is not a sign of the controversy over his candidature, but rather
political normality in Turkey: No Turkish president has been voted
into office in the first round in more than 40 years, the Salzburger
Nachrichten says.
Mass-circulation tabloid Kronen Zeitung meanwhile runs the headline
"Turkey: devout Muslim is reaching for the presidency," and suggests
the current "events in the country's Parliament amounts to an - as
yet peaceful - Islamic revolution directed against Turkey's secular
principles."


Gadhafi Son Calls for Reforms


5. Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, the son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi,
has said the country needs reforms to strengthen its grassroots
democracy. Saif Gadhafi explained such reforms should include
setting up independent institutions, such as a central bank, a high
court and media. However, he named four issues that had to be kept
out of any political debate and future reforms: Islamic Sharia,
security and stability, Libya's territorial unity and his father's
leadership.
According to independent provincial daily Salzburger Nachrichten,
Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, the son of Libya's leader, has suggested
guidelines for a new constitution for the country. Speaking in
Banghazi on Monday, he stressed that "we want to strengthen or
current system, and make it more efficient." In his speech, Saif
Gadhafi also urged the creation of independent institutions,"
including an independent central bank and supreme court, as well as
free media: "Our society needs an independent media in order to shed
light on corruption and fraud. Our country needs an independent
civil society." One of the challenges facing the country was
therefore to put together a packet of laws in the form of a
constitution, which needed to be approved by all citizens, Gadhafi
suggested. A "national dialogue of the entire people" would
facilitate the process of finding the "ideal formula," the daily
quotes.
Kilner