Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07VIENNA53
2007-01-10 17:37:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Vienna
Cable title:  

AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: January 10, 2007

Tags:  KPAO AU OPRC 
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DE RUEHVI #0053/01 0101737
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 101737Z JAN 07
FM AMEMBASSY VIENNA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5931
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/WHITEHOUSE WASHDC PRIORITY
UNCLAS VIENNA 000053 

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: January 10, 2007


Gusenbauer under Fire from SPOe

UNCLAS VIENNA 000053

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: January 10, 2007


Gusenbauer under Fire from SPOe


1. Incoming Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer from the SPOe has come
under fire from within his own party for having "given up too much
to the Conservatives" in the government negotiations. Student and
youth organizations continued their protests yesterday. Meanwhile,
75 percent of the party executive leadership backed Gusenbauer and
the coalition agreement with the OeVP in a vote on Tuesday.
Like mass-circulation daily Kurier and independent provincial daily
Salzburger Nachrichten, all Austrian media agree the grand coalition
government is "off to a bumpy start," particularly for the Social
Democrats. According to semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung, the SPOe
is "only reluctantly forming this coalition. The fact that only 75
percent of the party executive committee backed Gusenbauer's
coalition pact on Tuesday makes for a "tough start" for the new
chancellor, the daily adds. For centrist daily Die Presse, given the
circumstances and the sacrifices made along the way, the
chancellorship is "a Pyrrhic victory for Gusenbauer." According to
mass-circulation tabloid Oesterreich, the coalition government is
"not exactly off to a good start." Both the SPOe and the OeVP "have
taken massive hits."


Gusenbauer Defends Himself


2. In an interview with ORF television yesterday evening, SPOe
leader Alfred Gusenbauer defended himself against the criticism from
the ranks of his own party of his agreement with the OeVP. He
dismissed the accusations he had broken too many election promises
and had given the most important ministries to the Conservatives. On
the contrary, the key portfolios for the Social Democrats'
government program had been secured for the SPOe, he stressed.
Speaking on ORF TV's prime time domestic news program Report on
Tuesday, incoming Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer dismissed criticism
of his coalition pact with the OeVP. He had "not given up anything,"
he stressed, pointing to the fact that during its seven years in
opposition, the SPOe had "held zero portfolios, now it has seven."
Unlike many SPOe heavyweights, who have accused him of "selling out
to the Conservatives," Gusenbauer is convinced the Social Democrats
have succeeded in securing those ministries necessary to implement

their political program. With investments of up to 10.5 billion
Euros in infrastructure, the government would succeed in cutting
unemployment by 25 percent until 2010, and reduce youth unemployment
by half, Gusenbauer is optimistic. He underscored his commitment was
about "genuine improvement of the conditions of living," and not
about "abstract symbols of power." Criticism within the SPOe was
"legitimate," he added, and pointed out that a full implementation
of election promises would only have been possible if the SPOe had
won the absolute majority in the elections.


The Ministers


3. The SPOe's list of ministers, as published Wednesday morning on
Austrian Press Agency APA:
Chancellor: Alfred Gusenbauer
Minister for Social Affairs: Erwin Buchinger
Infrastructure Minister: Werner Faymannn
Justice Minister: Maria Berger
Education Minister: Claudia Schmied
Minister for Women's Issues: Doris Bures
Defense Minister: Norbert Darabos

Also, two of the SPOe's state secretaries have been nominated:
Christa Kranzl will be state secretary in the Ministry for
Infrastructure, and former SPOe budget spokesperson Christoph
Matznetter will be in the Finance Ministry, APA writes.

The OeVP's list of ministers:
Vice-Chancellor/Finance Minister: Wilhelm Molterer
Interior Minister: Guenther Platter
Foreign Minister: Ursula Plassnik
Economics Minister: Martin Bartenstein
Minister for Agriculture: Josef Proell
Science Minister: Johannes Hahn
Health Minister: Andrea Kdolsky

Reinhold Lopatka is the future state secretary for sports. Two state
secretaries are yet to be named.

SIPDIS


Embassy Fence

4. An Austrian weekly is reporting on the progress of the fence
project, which is being built to increase security for the US
Embassy facility in Vienna's 9th district.
Vienna city weekly Falter in its January 10 issue reports that an
almost 4m-high security fence is currently being built around the
Vienna US Embassy building in Boltzmanngasse. The weekly quotes
Public Affairs Counselor William Wanlund as stressing the fence will
"not only increase security for us; it also is a visual improvement
compared to the previous protective barrier" at the Embassy
facility. Moving the Embassy to the outskirts of Vienna, as some
Boltzmanngasse residents have suggested, would not make sense the
Vienna PAO added: Such a move would not be practicl, Wanlund said,
and added that none of the residents had actually approached the
Embassy with their concerns. The weekly also notes that the fence
project also includes a wider sidewalk for the pedestrians passing
by the embassy building.



US President Outlines Iraq Strategy


5. In a much anticipated speech, President Bush will present his new
strategy for Iraq later today. It has been made clear ahead of the
address that there will be no withdrawal from Iraq soon, as called
for by a number of US Democrats, Austrian radio says. Instead, a
deployment of additional troops appears likely. Democrat Senators
are meanwhile moving to oppose what they perceive as an "escalation
of the Iraq War."
Austrian media report on US President George Bush's upcoming address
on America's Iraq strategy, which will be aired by US television
channel CNN on January 10 at 9:00 pm EST (January 11 at 3:00 am
CET).
On ORF radio's early morning news Morgenjournal, Washington
correspondent Raimund Loew says the White House "has been making
huge efforts for days to minimize the expected shock as much as
possible. Selected Senators are receiving an information preview
directly from the President, and a neo-conservative think tank is
handing out position papers to the journalists. In sharp contrast to
general expectations following the Democrats' mid-term election
victory, George Bush is obviously not contemplating a withdrawal
from Iraq, not even a gradual one. Quite the contrary: a marked
expansion of the US commitment can be expected. The President wants
to deploy an additional 20,000 US troops to Iraq, the American media
speculate. Their primary objective will be to re-establish security
in the capital Baghdad. In addition, the US government is said to be
planning to pour a further 1.5 billion dollars into Iraq's economic
recovery. The concept of increasing troop levels, in particular, is
met with stiff resistance: The Democrats have dismissed it as a
'dangerous step of escalation.' Opinion polls confirm the President
won't have an easy time to convince the American public of the
planned measures: 61 percent of Americans are against sending more
soldiers off to a war they are convinced is quite pointless."
In mass-circulation tabloid Oesterreich, commentator Patrik Volf
says: "Whatever Bush will negotiate with the new Democratic
congressional majority, Iraq is lost for the US. More troops and
different commanders will be nothing but entries into the office
register in Baghdad and thus only serve to manage defeat. The US has
not fulfilled the primary responsibility any occupying power has
under international law: to guarantee order for the occupied state
and security for its population. For that, the troops were neither
given the means nor the necessary training. The only thing left to
do for the US is to achieve a regional consensus with regard to
Iraq. But that would be the Baker option and thus a defeat for
Bush."
McCaw