AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: August 24, 2007

UNCLAS VIENNA 002204 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 24, 2007 Strache Admits Neo-Nazi Contacts ¶1. The leader of the Freedom Party (FPOe),Heinz-Christian Strache, has acknowledged that he had contacts with the German neo-Nazi group Wiking Jugend, which was banned in 1994. ORF television quotes Strache as stressing that he was never a member and that he was last in touch with the group in 1990. The FPOe leader also said he had been part of a group that tried to get food parcels over the border to then communist East Germany in 1989 by throwing those "care packages" over the Berlin Wall. However, ORF TV comments, the FPOe boss described these events as having taken place at a time in 1989 when the Berlin Wall had already fallen. The current controversy involving the Freedom Party leader arose after a daily newspaper published a photo of Strache earlier this week, which appeared to show him with members of the Wiking Jugend, according to ORF TV's prime time news Zeit im Bild I on Thursday. US Criticism of Darabos ¶2. Austrian media continue to report on an interview published in a leading daily on Thursday, in which Defense Minister Norbert Darabos called the United States' plans for a missile defense shield in some eastern European countries a "provocation." ORF radio reports that the US State Department is apparently "not happy" with the Minister's statements, and has reacted in an "unusually harsh" way. State Department spokesperson Gonzalo Gallegos stressed that Darabos' comments are "not helpful." The US views the Cold War as "being over," and now faces a "new strategic environment that requires us to move beyond Cold War thinking," ORF radio quotes. All major Austrian media continue to report on Defense Minister Norbert Darabos' interview with centrist daily Die Presse of Thursday, and the State Department's response to the Minister's comments. Like all media, ORF online news quotes State Department spokesperson Gonzalo Gallegos as saying that "such comments are not helpful, and we now face a new strategic environment that requires us to move beyond Cold War thinking." Gallegos added that the US "has been open and transparent with all EU and NATO allies on this, and we'll continue to do so. We are discussing missile defense with the Russians." ORF online also notes that Karl Schwarzenberg, the �00A;Foreign Minister of the Czech Republic, where part of the missile defense system is to be set up, has also criticized Darabos for his statement. The Austrian Minister was a "man with downright pacifist tendencies, which is commendable as such, but rather strange in a defense minister," Schwarzenberg said. Mass-circulation daily Oesterreich headlines "Darabos is taking on the US," and adds that the State Department was "not amused by" the Defense Minister's statements. Meanwhile, mass-circulation daily Kurier reports on Darabos' growing difficulties in the Defense Ministry and with the Austrian military. The daily headlines "The minister is taking cover," pointing to Austria's military reform, where "no clear goal is in sight," and to the fact that Darabos is facing increasing criticism, while army officers are becoming more and more frustrated with the Minister's wayward and meandering course. Particularly, the plan to downsize Austria's military personnel by about 20 percent, mainly through early retirements and "golden handshakes" has cost the minister vital support, the daily suggests. "Gedenkdiener" Denied Entry to the US ¶3. Sourcing the New York Times, a leading Austrian daily reports that a program allowing Austrians to volunteer in Holocaust institutions in the US in lieu of serving in the Austrian military has been disrupted because of difficulties in obtaining visas from the American government. Since 1992, the Austrian government has been offering participation in this program, known as Gedenkdienst. The daily outlines the case of Valentin Hofer, who applied for an internship with the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust under the program, and whose visa application was eventually rejected, after months of delays. Austrian Press Agency APA, sourcing the New York Times, also reports on the case of Valentin Hofer, an Austrian who applied for a so-called Q1 visa, which makes possible cultural exchange between Austria and the US. The costs for the visa application were borne by the Los Angeles Museum where Hofer had applied and whose director has meanwhile announced his intention to sue, if the situation cannot be settled amicably. The immigration authorities had refused to grant the visa on the grounds that Hofer as a high school graduate was not in a position to represent the culture of his country. The Ministry for European and International Relations in Vienna had no knowledge of the case until Wednesday afternoon. Its spokesman Alexander Schallenberg referred to the importance of the "Gedenkdienst" and expressly stressed that the Austrian government gives it "as much support as we can," and is prepared to help out "whenever there are problems." Both APA and centrist daily Die Presse emphasize the fact that Hofer's case is the only one of this kind. The Presse quotes Florian Wenninger, head of the "Gedenkdienst Society," who states: "What is clear is that, since September 11, we have been facing much bigger problems trying to get visa for our volunteers." According to Wenninger, this has not just to do with the terror fears, but with the fact "that bureaucracies have the tendency to develop a momentum of their own." The Austrian Embassy in Washington DC has also expressed its dismay over the visa problems. Spokesperson Wolfgang Renezeder, in an interview with the daily, called the rejection of Valentin Hofer and others "incomprehensible." He expressed his hope that the cases in question "can still be resolved satisfactorily and the visa will be granted yet." Senator Calls for Troop Pullout from Iraq ¶4. A senior Republican Senator has called on US President George Bush to withdraw some 5,000 US troops from Iraq by the end of the year. Senator John Warner, former chairperson of the Senate Armed Forces Committee, said the US needed to show Iraqi leaders that its commitment to Iraq was not open ended. Senator Warner's comments came a day after President Bush warned of serious consequences of an early troop pullout, says ORF radio early morning news Morgenjournal. Second Round of the Presidential Election in Turkey ¶5. The Turkish Parliament is holding a second round of voting today to choose the country's next President. The frontrunner, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul of the ruling AKP Party, seems unlikely to get the necessary two-third majority today. However, he is expected to win the required simple majority in a third round next week, according to ORF online news. McCaw