AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: September 18, 2007

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SUBJECT: AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: September 18, 2007


Gusenbauer Launches Open Dialogue on Religion


1. Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer is to meet with religious leaders,
including leaders from Austria's Islamic Community, today. Talks are
aimed at defusing a debate over Islam's presence in the country in
the wake of arrests of four suspected Islamist militants in Austria
and Canada last week. Gusenbauer has said dialogue is the only way
to address misunderstandings between faiths, and emphasized that it
is vital to separate the issues of integration and fighting
terrorism.
While Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer is set t o meet with
religious leaders today, the Islamic Community in Austria has called
for better education for Muslim clerics, or imams, saying this would
help them understand Islam in a "European context." The Community
pointed out that Austria does not have an institute for training
Muslim clerics, and suggested that such training could be carried
out at the university level, says semi-official daily Wiener
Zeitung. Meanwhile, independent provincial daily Salzburger
Nachrichten suggests that Austria is a "safe haven for radical
Muslims." Political analyst and Islam expert Thomas Schmidinger told
the daily that Austria had become a refuge for Muslim
fundamentalists for whom circumstances in Germany had become too
constrained. Like the Muslim Community, Schmidinger argues that the
training of teachers of Islam in Austria is in the hands of
"extremely conservative Sunni Muslims." Not even the Muslim
Community, the expert continues, "has complete insight into what is
being taught and what is being preached in the mosques."


OeVP Calls for Flat Tax


2. Prominent representatives from the People's Party have caused a
stir with an "unexpected" proposal: OeVP floor leader and former
Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel has suggested introducing a 25-percent
flat tax for businesses. Simultaneously, the party's social issues
spokesperson Werner Amon says the scheme should be extended to all
employees. Thus, a proposal first put forward by Carinthian Governor
Joerg Haider some years ago and dismissed by the OeVP as a "snatch
tax" at the time, has now received "positive resonance" from
Conservative heavyweights, Austrian media say.
Mass-circulation tabloid Oesterreich also reports on what it
describes as a "new OeVP offensive for a flat tax," and a "proposal
for a complete overhaul of the tax system." OeVP social issues
spokesperson Werner Amon argues this would be a "huge
simplification" of Austria's tax system. In exchange for abolishing
tax brackets, which burdened higher income earners in particular,
the country needed a complete reform of the social system in order
to maintain a social symmetry, Amon continued. He believes a first
step could be the unification of wage and income taxes as part of
the planned 2010 tax reform. The OeVP's coalition partner SPOe, as
well as the Greens have dismissed the proposal as "unsocial,"
however.


Clinton Wants Healthcare for All


3. Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Hillary Clinton said she
will introduce a plan to provide affordable and accessible
healthcare for all Americans if she is elected president. Speaking
in Iowa yesterday, Clinton said that her proposal - a cornerstone of
her domestic policy program - would aim at providing healthcare for
the 47 million Americans who are currently uninsured. The Senator's
plan includes providing government subsidized compulsory insurance
with tax credits for working families to help them cover the costs.
Reporting on Senator Hillary Clinton's statement that she will
introduce a plan to provide affordable and accessible healthcare for
all Americans if she is elected president, commentator Joerg Winter
says on ORF radio early morning news Morgenjournal: "They are
competitors in the race for nomination as the frontrunner, but
there's one issue all Democratic presidential hopefuls agree on:
Every American is to have healthcare insurance in the future,
including the 47 million who are currently uninsured. If Hillary
Clinton has her way, healthcare insurance will be obligatory. Tax
credits are to facilitate purchasing insurance. The project's costs
are estimated at about 110 billion dollars annually. Also, unlike
now, health insurance providers will no longer be permitted to
reject potential clients because of a previous illness or condition.
When she was the First Lady in the mid-1990s, Hillary Clinton failed
with a similar proposal because of Republican opposition, who
continue to reject the idea of a general compulsory insurance."


Iran Dismisses French Warning


4. A warning by France's Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner that the
world might have to prepare for war over Iran's nuclear program has
drawn an angry response from Tehran. Iran's Foreign Ministry said
the remark had "damaged the credibility" of France, and that Paris
was "obviously in disregard of the EU's policy." In addition,
Iranian news agency IRNA accused Paris of having "become the
executors of the will of the White House." Meanwhile, the top UN
nuclear official said force should be a last resort. At a conference
of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, Mohamed
ElBaradei said he saw no clear and present danger, and that talk of
force was counter-productive.
Responding to French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner's recent
warning that developments surrounding the Iranian nuclear program
could lead to war, Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik
criticized her French colleagues "aggressive tone." According to
liberal daily Der Standard, Plassnik emphasized that she "prefers
persistent work on a solution through negotiations. I don't
understand why [Kouchner] has resorted to such martial rhetoric at
this point. The Standard also analyzes Austria's potential position
in the event of tightened sanctions or even a military operation
against Iran, and speculates whether such a development could
re-open the debate of Austrian neutrality. "Not at this point,"
experts argue, because from a "strictly formal point of view, the
question does not pose itself for as long as there is no actual war
or armed conflict taking place."


Rice Promoting Mideast Conference


5. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is traveling to ISRAEL and
the West Bank today. In her meetings with Israeli and Palestinian
political leaders, she will address the re-launching of the Middle
East peace process, and pave the way for the international Mideast
conference, scheduled to take place in Washington DC later this
year.
Reporting on US Secretary Rice's trip to the Middle East today, ORF
Jerusalem correspondent Ben Segenreich says: "This is the fourth
time this year Rice is visiting the region, although the Secretary
of State only had little to show for after her last Mideast trips.
Now, however, there is a certain degree of pressure of time and
success. A Middle East conference is to take place in fall, the
Americans announced months ago, and fall is almost here. Anyhow, the
key players are showing their good will, with Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas saying that 'we should work very hard for the
international gathering in Washington in November to be a successful
meeting.' It is worth noting, however, that Abbas used the bland
expression 'gathering' rather than the more lofty 'conference;' this
reflects the currently common trend to keep expectations as low as
possible. There is neither set date nor schedule yet. Moreover, it
is unclear whether heads of state and government or just a number of
ministers will attend, and no one knows which countries can be
expected to participate. Some have argued a meeting would only make
sense if new partners such as Saudi Arabia are included in the
circle of peace-promoters, but the Saudis are hesitant. The
Palestinians, too, are acting skeptical, and have indicated that it
might be better to postpone the conference. After all, it would only
be a farce, unless a result could be guaranteed in advance, but the
negotiations between Abbas and Olmert were deadlocked. The
Palestinians want a detailed skeleton agreement with regard to the
borders of their future state, the partition of Jerusalem, the
dismantling of settlements, and they also want an agreed timetable
for the implementation of these issues. This is going a little too
far for the Israelis, who would prefer concluding the conference
with a vague joint communiqu. There could only be a genuine
agreement, the Israelis argue, when Abbas has proved that he can
sort things out, when the attacks on the ISRAEL have stopped, the
militias have been disarmed and reforms of the Palestinian
authorities have been carried out. Olmert and Abbas are in agreement
about one issue, though: Radical Islamic Hamas must not be brought
into the process. On the one hand, the rift among Palestinians
kicked off the current process of talks, but at the same time it
remains a huge problem. Hamas, which has been completely isolated in
the Gaza Strip, has recently announced it might be willing to call a
cease-fire, but Israel's military intelligence believes that Hamas
may be preparing for a major attack in order to disrupt the
conference."


Microsoft Loses Anti-Trust Appeal


6. Microsoft has lost its appeal against a record 497-million-Euro
fine imposed by the European Commission in a long-running
competition dispute. The European Court of First Instance upheld the
ruling that Microsoft had abused its dominant market position. A
probe concluded in 2004 that Microsoft was guilty of freezing out
rivals in server software and products such as media players.
Meanwhile, Microsoft has two months to appeal to the European Court
of Justice, according ORF TV's prime time news Zeit im Bild I on
Monday.
McCaw