AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: February 16, 2007

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SUBJECT: AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: February 16, 2007


BZOe Boss Implicated in Bawag Scandal


1. BZOe boss Peter Westenthaler is coming under fire in the Bawag
affair. On Thursday, former Minister of Justice Karin Gastinger
confirmed towards centrist daily "Die Presse" that he tried "very,
very cautiously" to intervene on behalf of investment banker
Wolfgang Flttl, who lost the Bawag billions of euros through
speculations. If this charge turns out to be true, this could
constitute instigation to an abuse of authority. The Greens are
already considering filing charges with the legal authorities - the
Viennese prosecutor's office has announced that they might act of
their own accord on this matter, however, "a decision has not been
made yet," as a spokesman of the prosecutor's office told "Die
Presse."
The main reason why Westenthaler has allegedly attempted to
intervene for Wolfgang Flttl is that the latter had documents that
Westenthaler hoped would provide ammunition for the BZOe election
campaign, said Christoph Pchinger from the Vienna prosecutor's
office. Gastinger confirmed this and spoke of two intervention
attempts on the part of the BZOe, reports independent daily
"Salzburger Nachrichten." The BZOe boss had asked both her and
Pchinger about the current status quo with regard to the Flttl
issue, Gastinger remembers. The prosecutor's office had then made
clear that there must be no political intervention in the matter,
writes the daily. Westenthaler has rejected the charges as
"nonsense." He admitted to having intervened with Gastinger -
openly, as he claimed - because he thought the whole procedure was
too slow.


Elsner: Little Chance of Freedom


2. Former Bawag boss Helmut Elsner has little chance of going free
on bail for the time being. Currently he is in the
Wilhelminenspital, to which he was taken from prison to check the
state of his health by the best specialists. The prosecutor has
spoken out against letting Elsner go free on bail, because a flight
risk cannot be substituted for by bail.
Contrary to previous reports, Elsner will not appear before the
committee that investigates the bank scandal.
Only after Helmut Elsner has been released from the hospital can he
be interrogated by the investigation committee. Its next sessions
are on February 21, 26, and 28 - Elsner has been summoned to appear
before the committee at these dates - whether he will actually come
depends on his physical fitness and on the legal authorities, writes
mass circulation daily "Kurier." The doctors who are examining the
71-year-old former Bawag boss are confident that the medical
examinations will not take more than two days. The French doctors
that confirmed Elsner's severe heart disease in December, could get
into trouble: The Austrian doctors' chamber has already announced
that it is prepared to take action if it turns out that their expert
opinions were intended as a favor to Elsner.

Cleaner Energy Not EU Priority


3. The EU Commission had ambitious plans for the introduction of
environmentally-friendly energy sources - nevertheless, the EU
Ministers of Energy largely declined to set mandatory guidelines for
the use of alternative energy sources at their meeting on Thursday.
The only binding goal on which they were able to agree is the
promotion of biological fuels. The main goal of the EU Commission of
increasing the use of biological fuels by 20 percent met with
resistance on the part of most EU states, which reject the strong
involvement of Brussels in this matter and only agreed to accept the
guidelines on a voluntary basis.
In the end, the EU states agreed on a compromise, reports centrist
daily "Die Presse": What will be mandatory is just the EU-wide
increase of biological fuels to 10 percent. The burden sharing among
the member states is to follow. The increase of other renewable
energy sources remains a voluntary act. An extensive use of
biological fuels is controversial: According to a "Financial Times"
report, the EU would have to import thousands of tons of energy
plants from countries like Brazil in order to actually achieve its
intended goal until 2020. Environmental organizations fear that the
mass production of the respective plants could lead to accelerated
destruction of rain forest and to high food prices in Third World
states. With regard to nuclear energy, whose importance for a
"cleaner environment" is always stressed by the EU Commission, the
decision continues to rest with the individual states. Austria's
Minister for Economy and Labor Martin Bartenstein has confirmed
Austria's negative stance with regard to nuclear energy, writes the
daily.
Al-Masri Injured In Fight


4. According to news station "CNN," the leader figure of the terror
network al-Qaida in Iraq is said to have been injured during combat
with Iraqi police in a fight between Falluja and Samarra. His deputy
Abu Abdullah al Majamiai allegedly died in the incident. The CNN
report was confirmed by the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior, which
refused to give details considering al-Masri's current whereabouts.

Will Ivanov Become New Strong Man In Russia?


5. Russian President Vladimir Putin has unexpectedly reshuffled his
cabinet and thereby triggered wild speculations as to the future
power distribution in the country. The current hardliner, Minister
of Defense Sergej Ivanov has become the first deputy head of
government and thus ranks equal with Dimitri Medvedov, who also
occupies this position. Some Kremlin observers see this as an
indication that the Kremlin boss, who may no longer run for office
in 2008, wants to position Ivanov as new strong man in Russia.

Unequal Treatment of Iran and North Korea


6. Centrist daily "Die Presse" has analyzed the reasonsQhy the
Iranian and North Korean nuclear conflicts are being handled in such
very different ways - responsible for this inequality are the
different strategic interests of Washington. North Korea is seen as
less of a threat, its geographical position makes a multilateral
approach feasible and a collapse of the regime in Pyongyang is
actually something its neighbors fear rather than desire. China, and
paradoxically also the US, have an interest in maintaining the
status quo with regard to North Korea, argues the daily.
In contrast to Iran and its influence on the Middle East crisis
region, the regime in Pyongyang doe not have the means at its
disposal to undermine the strategic interests of the US in East
Asia, analyzes "Die Presse." Kim Jong-Il's main concern is the
survival of his regime. Iran, on the other hand, is a constant
threat to the interests of the US and its allies in a region which
is rich in natural resources. Also, a regime change in Iran would
most probably bring to power political elites which are most likely
to be friendlier towards the West than the present political
leadership. In East Asia, a pro-Western regime on the Korean
peninsula would not necessarily be in the Americans' best interest.
As a precondition for a reunification of the two Koreas, the US
would probably have to give up its military presence - otherwise
China and Russia would not give their consent. However, this would
drastically weaken Washington's strategic position towards both
countries, writes the daily.
McCaw