AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: March 02, 2007

UNCLAS VIENNA 000552 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: March 02, 2007 Agreement on Double Budget ¶1. After the Defense and Finance Ministers reconciled their differences over allocation of funds for the defense portfolio, the coalition partners SPOe and OeVP agreed yesterday on a double budget for 2007 and 2008. The spending plan is expected to be presented in parliament before the end of March. This year's deficit will be 1.12 percent of GDP at most, Finance Minister Wilhelm Molterer told Austrian journalists, while 2008's deficit is expected to be at 0.88 percent. Following the agreement on the budget for 2007 and 2008, Finance Minister Wilhelm Molterer stressed the accord proves that the grand coalition is working and the SPOe and OeVP have shown they want the government to work effectively. Although he forecast the deficit for 2007 at 1.12 percent, he expects the actual figure to be below that, Molterer told journalists, adding that his strategy is to "save money where we need to and invest where investment is necessary." He is following a course of "economic common sense," aimed at creating the necessary buffer for future tax cuts, ORF online news quotes the Minister. However, even with a deficit below the projected value, he is ruling out a new round of tax reform before 2010, Molterer says. Liberal daily Der Standard says that in their dispute over the budget, Molterer has given in and agreed to meet Defense Minister Norbert Drabos's demand for an additional 100 million Euros for the defense portfolio. The money is to come from the sale of several Austrian barracks, the daily explains. In an interview with the Standard, Molterer explained it is a "budget that on the one hand is marked by absolute discipline in taking advantage of the positive business developments, and on the other hand identifies key areas we consider politically significant." Fundamental Rights Agency Opens In Vienna ¶2. EU Commission President Jos Manuel Barroso on Thursday opened a Fundamental Rights Agency here in Vienna to help combat discrimination on the basis of race, gender or religion. The agency replaces the EU's Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia. Its purpose will be to collect data on violations of fundamental rights, provide advice to the EU and its member states, and to raise public awareness. The OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has welcomed the opening of the new Fundamental Rights Agency in Vienna, semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung says, and quotes the director of ODIHR, Ambassador Christian Strohal, who said, "The creation of the Fundamental Rights Agency will further strengthen the EU's role in effectively protecting human rights." He added, "I believe it will help create a unique pool of expertise that can also influence democratic development beyond the EU's borders," and said his office hopes the EU will put greater emphasis on human rights through the Agency. Critics, however, have said the agency will duplicate work being done by the Council of Europe and the UN. But Justice Commisioner Franco Frattini empahsized the European Union had to promote fundamental rights if it was to achieve "a Europe of which we can be proud - a Europe which is richly diverse, where people are integrated and live side-by-side, and gender, racial and other inequalities are overcome," according to the Wiener Zeitung. Ambassador's Op-Ed on Iran ¶3. An Austrian weekly publishes a guest commentary by US Ambassador to Austria Susan McCaw on the United States' stance on Iran. The US has "absolutely no desire for a military confrontation" with Iran, and is "not preparing for a war," but remains "committed to seeking a diplomatic solution," the Ambassador underscored. Ambassador's Op-Ed on Iran In a guest commentary published by Austrian economics weekly Format in its March 2 issue, US Ambassador to Austria Susan McCaw emphasized the United States has "absolutely no desire for a military confrontation with Iran." However, by its "continuing refusal to meet its international obligations, the Government of Iran seems determined to make it as difficult as possible to reach a diplomatic solution," the Ambassador points out, citing UNSC Resolution 1737, and the most recent IAEA report on Iran. The Iranian leadership's attitude is "increasingly isolating their country from the international community," says the Ambassador, again emphasizing that the United States "remains committed to seeking a diplomatic solution." The US and the other four Permanent Members of the UNSC, plus Germany, have begun work on "another resolution, which we expect will further tighten sanctions against Iran." Iran's "intransigence is difficult to understand," the Ambassador argues, particularly given the "attractive package of incentives for Iran, including economic and technical assistance to help Iran develop the peaceful civilian nuclear power program it claims it is seeking, in exchange for suspending uranium enrichment and reprocessing," which the five UN veto powers and Germany agreed on in Vienna lasts spring. That offer is "still on the table," and Secretary Rice reiterated it on February 21, saying she was prepared SIPDIS to meet her Iranian counterpart "for substantive discussions once enrichment and reprocessing has been suspended." The people of Iran "deserve better than to have their government lead them further into international isolation," Ambassador McCaw concludes. Taliban Leader Allegedly Held In Pakistan ¶4. Intelligence officials in Pakistan say a key figure in the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan has been arrested. Mullah Obaidullah Achund, who was Defense Minister when the Taliban were in power, was reportedly seized in the Pakistani city of Quetta. There has been no official confirmation of the arrest at this point, according to ORF online news. UN Chief Warns on Climate Change ¶5. UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has warned that climate change is as big a risk to the world as war. Speaking to schoolchildren at a UN conference in New York, he said upheavals caused by climate change are likely to be a major cause of conflict. He urged the United States to take the lead in fighting global warming -- the US is the world's biggest producer of greenhouse gases. Meanwhile, independent provincial daily Salzburger Nachrichten reports that since the recent experts' warnings on the drastic effects of global warming, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has made the environment one of her key issues. In a statement on Thursday, she emphasized the necessity of an effective climate protection strategy, saying she does not simply want to "sit back and watch" global warming take its toll. The European Union would have to "take the lead" and cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020, Merkel stressed. The EU had to prove that the "economy and ecology can be reconciled." Merkel is hoping to make further headway with her plans at the upcoming G-8 summit and at the US-EU summit later this year if the EU follows the goal already proposed by the Commission, the daily says. Progress on Iran Sanctions ¶6. State Department officials say there has been progress in talks with major powers on imposing further sanctions on Iran over its refusal to suspend its uranium enrichment program. The five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany held a conference call on the issue yesterday. According to a report in centrist daily Die Presse, "the more obvious it becomes that international sanctions are unlikely to stop the Iranian nuclear research program, the more aggressive Israel's stance towards Iran is becoming." The chair of Likud's parliamentary security committee Yuval Steinitz believes that Tehran's nuclear project can be stopped by a military strike, the daily quotes. Although Premier Ehud Olmert is urging intensified diplomatic efforts, he emphasized that "all options remain on the table" for Israel, should sanctions not be successful. A number of Israeli experts meanwhile believe a military strike is necessary, and should be launched "before Iran is in possession of sufficient fissionable material to build a bomb." In short: Experts and MPs in Jerusalem are openly debating the option of air raids on Iranian nuclear facilities, the daily claims. US Running Out of Time in Iraq ¶7. American military experts say the United States has about six months left to win the war in Iraq. The team headed by Gen. David Petraeus has warned of a rapid deterioration of the situation in Iraq, which could lead to a hurried withdrawal of US troops and what they describe as a "Vietnam-like defeat," Austrian media report, sourcing several British newspapers. Semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung says that according to strategists the only way for the US to achieve victory in Iraq is through a temporary increase of US troop levels there as well as a gradual transfer of power to Iraqi authorities. The deployment of an additional 20,000 troops to Iraq, the experts say, is not enough to defeat the insurgency, particularly in and around Baghdad. Gen. Petraeus' team also warned of the consequences of dissolving the international coalition forces in Iraq and of a potential increase in violence in southern Iraq, where 1,600 British troops will be pulled out in the coming months, Wiener Zeitung writes. McCaw