Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07VIENNA455
2007-02-22 07:45:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Vienna
Cable title:  

AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: February 21, 2007

Tags:  KPAO AU OPRC 
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VZCZCXYZ0002
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHVI #0455/01 0530745
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 220745Z FEB 07
FM AMEMBASSY VIENNA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6412
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/WHITEHOUSE WASHDC PRIORITY
UNCLAS VIENNA 000455 

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: KPAO AU OPRC

SUBJECT: AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: February 21, 2007


Westenthaler to Testify Before Banking Committee

UNCLAS VIENNA 000455

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: KPAO AU OPRC

SUBJECT: AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: February 21, 2007


Westenthaler to Testify Before Banking Committee


1. BZOe boss Peter Westenthaler is scheduled to testify today before
the parliamentary investigative committee looking into the scandal
surrounding former union-owned bank Bawag. He is suspected of having
intervened in favor of investment banker Wolfgang Floettl, a key
figure in the Bawag affair. Westenthaler complained the summons for
his testimony was motivated by a political campaign directed against
the BZOe in the face of a recent surge in voters' support for his
party, he claims.
Semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung quotes BZOe leader Westenthaler
as admitting that he "did intervene" in connection with investment
banker Wolfgang Floettl and discussed the issue with former Justice
Minister Karin Gastinger -- but not to do Floettl a favor, but
rather to "speed up the proceedings" against him. The current
allegations regarding his intervention were a party-policy
mudslinging campaign against the BZOe launched by Gastinger and her
former press spokesperson Christoph Poechinger, Westenthaler claims.



Deadline on Foreign Students' Quota Extended


2. The European Union's Education Commissioner, Jan Figel, has given
Austria more time to respond to a warning that it will face legal
action if it does not remove a quota on the number of foreign
students allowed to study at Austrian universities. The gesture came
after a meeting in Brussels with Austrian Science Minister Johannes
Hahn.
Europe's Education Commissioner Jan Figel said he would extend the
deadline regarding the removal of a quota on the number of foreign
students in Austria as long as Austria presented "substantial and
strong arguments." Austria's Science Minister Johannes Hahn, whose
portfolio includes universities, said he is convinced that a
solution meeting EU and Austrian needs can be found. Austria placed
limits on foreign students following a flood of applications from
Germans wishing to study medicine, semi-official daily Wiener
Zeitung and several other Austrian media explain. In January the EU
took legal steps against Austria and Belgium for not fully opening
their higher education systems to students from other EU member
states. The European Commission says the restrictions violate the EU

principle of free movement of people, and gave both countries two
months to respond to the Commission's demand to open their
universities.


EU Agrees on Greenhouse Curbs


3. EU environment ministers have agreed in principle to cut
greenhouse emissions by 20 percent from 1990 levels by 2020. The
ministers, meeting in Brussels, also agreed to seek a 30 percent cut
worldwide if matched by other developed nations. The proposals,
outlined by the European Commission in January, are seen as a key
measure to curb climate change. The EU must still decide how to make
cuts, allowing for a possible compromise with member states opposed
to mandatory targets.
The EU environment ministers' agreement to cut greenhouse emissions
by 2020 is a "tough test of Europe's efforts to implement an
ambitious climate policy," centrist daily Die Presse writes. The
goals formulated by the ministers meeting in Brussels yesterday, are
also to serve as an EU basis in international negotiations on a new
global climate protection agreement after the phase-out of the Kyoto
Protocol in 2012.
While Hungary and Poland are said to oppose the cuts and Finland has
also voiced opposition to the targets, the German Environment
Minister said his country was prepared to go further and cut
emissions by 40 percent. A number of nations have voiced doubts
about the effectiveness of national emission limits.
Austria, meanwhile, is likely to fail to meet its emission reduction
targets and will have to buy carbon certificates from other
countries, semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung says. Austria's plan
calls for greenhouse gas emissions to be reduced to 77.7 million
tons by 2010, but suggests this will not be achieved, requiring the
purchase of nine million tons worth of carbon certificates.


Waiting for the Serial Numbers


4. The affair surrounding the Austrian-made Steyr-Mannlicher rifles,
allegedly found in the possession of Iraqi insurgents last week,
continues to "keep both Americans and Austrian on the go," an
Austrian daily writes. The rifles' serial numbers, which are to
clarify whether the guns are Steyr-Mannlicher originals or merely
copies, have not been ascertained at this point, the US Embassy
Vienna explained. However, should British media reports floated
earlier this month turn out to be true, and the rifles confirmed as
Steyr-Mannlicher products, the US would be "profoundly disturbed,"
according to semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung.


Britain to Begin Iraq Pullout


5. According to media reports, British Prime Minister Tony Blair
will announce the date today for the beginning of a British troop
withdrawal from Iraq. About 1,500 of the 7,000 British soldiers
stationed in Iraq are expected to return home soon. Austrian media
see this is an about-face by Blair, who in January was still arguing
a troop pullout would be a "disaster." Meanwhile, US President
George Bush welcomed the move as a sign the Iraq Coalition's
strategy to stabilize the country was working.
On ORF radio's early morning news Morgenjournal, Washington
correspondent Raimund Loew comments on the British plans for a
gradual troop pullout from Iraq: "President Bush was personally
informed by Tony Blair on the withdrawal plan yesterday, the White
House confirms. The President considers the gradual pullout of the
British troops as a sign of success, a spokesperson in Washington
emphasizes. 'We welcome the fact that the situation in Basra has
improved to such an extent that a transfer of control to the Iraqi
authorities is possible,' the White House stated. The US, too,
'wants to bring home its soldiers eventually, but the security
situation in the south is quite different from the circumstances in
Baghdad.' Television news in the US reported extensively about the
planned British pullout - after all, Great Britain is the most
important ally of the US in Iraq by far. The US President, in turn,
is under enormous pressure to also present a plan for a gradual
withdrawal of American troops - something he has clearly rejected up
to now."


Iran Unlikely to Budge


6. Iran has again said it will not halt its nuclear activities as a
precondition for talks on the trade benefits offered by six world
powers. However, Tehran has offered a guarantee it would not seek
atomic weapons. The statements came at the end of a grace period
Iran had been given by the UN Security Council to stop its nuclear
program. Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani was in Vienna
yesterday for talks ahead of the publication today of a crucial IAEA
report, and emphasized his country would not suspend its uranium
enrichment activities.
In an interview with mass-circulation provincial daily Kleine
Zeitung, Middle East expert Karin Kneissl argues that in her opinion
the threat of new UN sanctions is unlikely to impress Iran. She also
dismissed rumors of an impending US air strike on Iran. Since the
1980s, Iran "has been more or less isolated, and has therefore
become very self-sufficient. Iran can keep large parts of its
industry up and running, so it is much harder to hit it with
sanctions than an economically weaker country." A US go-it-alone
military strike against Iran, Kneills says, "cannot be completely
ruled out, but I don't believe it is very likely. (...) At this
point, the US has virtually no allies (for such a move),so a
military strike would be a huge go-it-alone operation, for which
there are not enough military bases in the region, either," the US
could use. Also, "most of Iran's important facilities are scattered
all over the country. It would not be easy to destroy them all,"
says Kneissl.
Meanwhile, in liberal daily Der Standard, Christoph Prantner
analyzes the alleged US attack plans envisaging air strikes against
Iran. Sourcing several leading US newspapers and magazines, he says
the American media reported extensively on the alleged US
contingency plans for Iran. Some US media have labeled this the
"clandestine war with Iran," in the wake of a recent Pentagon's
briefing on suspected ties between the Iranian government and
insurgents in Iraq. Despite the extremely tough stance the US has
adopted officially when it comes to Iran, American experts believe a
US military strike against Iran is highly unlikely, the foreign
affairs writer argues. Mr. Prantner is currently in Washington on
the US Embassy supported US-Austrian Journalism Exchange Fellowship
program.


Last Round of Kosovo Talks


7. A final round of talks between Serbian and ethnic Albanian
leaders over the future status of Kosovo province will get underway
in Vienna today. The focus of these discussions will be a set of UN
proposals which would give Kosovo all the characteristics of an
independent state. Serbia, however, continues to oppose independence
for Kosovo, which has been under UN administration since fighting
ended there in 1999. Austrian media do not expect a breakthrough in
today's meeting.
In an interview with semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung, the UN's
deputy special envoy for Kosovo, Albert Rohan, confirms the muted
expectations regarding an agreement between Serbs and Kosovars on
the province's future status. He points to the hardened fronts ahead
of the final round of talks, and empahsizes that in his opinion
Serbia is not willing to compromise.
McCaw