AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: April 05, 2007

UNCLAS VIENNA 000916 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: OPRC PAO AU SUBJECT: AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: April 05, 2007 OeVP Disagrees on Same-Sex Partnerships ¶1. An improvement of the legal rights of people living in same-sex partnerships in Austria could happen soon - provided the OeVP settles its intra-party disputes over the issue. OeVP secretary general Hannes Missethon suggested on ORF television yesterday that same-sex partnerships could in the future be registered with a notary public, but not at the registrar's office, as called for by the SPOe and the Greens. Nonetheless, the move would abolish discrimination, for example with regard to estate and inheritance rights, Missethon said. He was harshly criticized for his statements by other high-ranking OeVP members, according to Austrian media. Semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung notes that same-sex partnerships has been a particularly hot topic with the Conservatives. Following Missethon's announcement on ORF television yesterday that the OeVP was planning to offer Austrians the option of having both homosexual and heterosexual partnerships registered with a notary public, and the ensuing rebuke by party heavyweights, the OeVP Secretary General backpedaled, saying he had merely wanted to present the interim results of a perspectives group within the OeVP. Missethon's move came after Workers and Employees Union Secretary General Werner Amon harshly criticized his push towards equal rights for same-sex partnerships as "highly surprising." According to Amon, families needed to continue receiving highest priority, the Wiener Zeitung writes. Gusenbauer Visits Brussels ¶2. Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer paid his first official visit to Brussels Wednesday, meeting with the new Austrian Ambassador to the EU, Hans-Dietmar Schweisgut, and with EU Commission President Jose Manual Barroso, with whom he discussed key issues from climate control to transit policy. He also called for a strengthening of the European social model. The Chancellor was met with praise for Austria's climate protection efforts and understanding for Austria's concerns regarding the university access of foreign students, but failed to get any actual EU promises regarding these matters, Austrian media say. Like all Austrian media, mass-circulation daily Kurier reports on Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer's visit to Brussels. Following his meeting with Commission President Jos Manuel Barroso it was announced that EU Commission will take another close look at the information Austria has provided regarding its efforts to cut carbon dioxide emissions. On the issue of student quotas, Barroso was optimistic that a solution could be found which is in the interest of both sides. Gusenbauer meanwhile defended his stance that criticism of the Commission was sometimes necessary. Speaking at the Austrian Embassy in Brussels, he stressed that he was pushing for a "relaxed relationship," and that an exclusively "velvet glove approach" with the Commission would do no good. Nonetheless, the Kurier analyzes the Chancellor's Brussels trip stating that the Commission "showed understanding for Austria's university concerns and climate protection efforts, but is unlikely to depart from its principles." EU Opens Markets to Developing Regions ¶3. The European Union Wednesday proposed to remove all remaining quota and tariff limitations on access to the EU market for all African, Caribbean and Pacific regions as part of the Economic Partnership Agreement negotiations, an Austrian daily says. Reporting on the EU's Economic Partnership Agreement negotiations, semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung says the offer covers all types of products, including agricultural goods like beef, dairy products and cereals, as well as all fruit and vegetables. It will apply immediately following the signing of an agreement including a phase-in period for rice and sugar. The only exception will be South Africa, where a number of globally competitive products will continue to pay import duties. The offer will give all African, Caribbean and Pacific countries the same full access to EU markets that all least developed countries have under the EU's "everything but arms" duty and quota-free market access system. It will apply in full from day one - planned for January 1, 2008 - with the exception of the rice and sugar transition period. The daily notes this will be compatibile with EU market reforms and ensure stability to protect the interests of both the EU and ACP producers who supply those markets. Economic partnership agreements are the trade and development agreements the EU is currently negotiating in parallel with 6 African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) regions. These include the Caribbean; West Africa; East and Southern Africa; Central Africa; Southern Africa and the Pacific. The economic partnership agreements aim at integrating the ACP into the world trading economy and increasing the quantity and diversity of their trade. Under current arrangements, the 40 ACP least developed countries (LDCs) already have duty- and quota-free access to the EU, while 37 non-LDCs have special tariff preferences and one country, South Africa, has a bilateral free trade agreement. A core objective of the EPAs is to bring each region under a single trade regime to encourage regional integration, the growth of markets and the creation of regional supply chains. Abu Amr in Vienna ¶4. Palestinian Foreign Minister Ziad Abu Amr, after talks in Vienna with his Austrian counterpart Ursula Plassnik, said he doesn't believe Israel is serious about peace plan talks with the Palestinians. He said Israel needed to open the checkpoints and barriers that keep the citizens of around 2,000 Palestinian villages living in difficult circumstances. He also demanded Israel release about 10,000 Palestinians that it has imprisoned and suggested that then Israeli prisoners will be released, including Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, kidnapped last summer. In an interview with semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung, Palestinian Foreign Minister Ziad Abu Amr outlines what he considers the next steps in the peace process: "We've done what we were asked to do: We've agreed on a moderate government program, and now, of course, we expect a change in the international community and EU's stance towards the Palestinians. It is time for things to get back to normal." Regarding Israel, Abu Amr emphasized that the "Palestinian Authority has recognized Israel, the PLO has recognized Israel. The government is only a small part of the Palestinian political system. We've drawn up a national unity platform and have met requirements. Why does everyone focus exclusively on the Palestinian side? There are parties in Israel that have neither recognized the Palestinian authority nor the Palestinian state." Peace, he believes, has been "outlined quite clearly in the Arab League initiative. There has to be a normalization of our relations (with other countries),and a recognition of the state (of Israel) in return for Israel's withdrawal behind the borders of 1967." Centrist daily Die Presse also publishes an interview with the Foreign Minister, quoting him as saying he has "no problem with Israel's right to exit, but we're not talking about personal views here. I represent a government that has committed itself to the exiting agreements of the Palestinian authority. This includes the letter in which the PLO recognized Israel. Without this recognition, the Palestinian authority could not have been founded. That is why the EU needs to lift its embargo against the Palestinian government, resume its direct financial aid payments, and give up its ban on contacts with Hamas members." 15 British Sailors Return Home ¶5. The 15 British Navy crew held captive by Iran for almost two weeks is on its way home. In a surprise move that Austrian media have described as a "huge PR stunt," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad released the 15 yesterday in what he said was a "gift" to the British people. British Prime Minister Tony Blair has expressed his relief, and declared no deals had been made with Iran to secure the release of the soldiers. He did not thank or address the Iranian President, but stressed the UK bore the Iranian people "no ill will." All Austrian media give prominent coverage to the release of the 15 British Navy personnel from Iranian custody. Independent provincial daily Salzburger Nachrichten comments on the "big show over prisoners, "and also quotes US President Bush as welcoming the developments. Centrist daily Die Presse in a front-page article notes that the change in the tug-of-war over the sailors was likely brought about by direct contact between Iran's chief negotiator Ali Larijani and Tony Blair's office. Allegedly, London agreed in a letter to respect the Iraqi-Iranian naval borders in the future, the Presse says. Iran's President Ahmadinejad has meanwhile also offered to resume diplomatic relations with the United States, provided "Mr. Bush and his administration change their behavior." The State Department replied, however, that it is Iran that needs to change, the daily notes. Mass-circulation daily Kurier like the majority of Austrian media emphasized the sensation caused by the Iranian decision, describing it s as "bombshell," and a "surprise PR coup" launched by the Iranian President, and ORF online news points out that Ahmadinejad clearly enjoyed the humiliation his surprise move must have caused London. And in liberal daily Der Standard, foreign affairs writer Martin Stricker comments on the "grande finale in Tehran," saying that both sides have finally "succeeded in attaining their goals: The liberation of the British citizens without loss of face by the parties concerned. British Prime Minister Tony Blair did not have to apologize for his alleged violation of borders, nor did the regime in Teheran have to submit to ;pudmouthed threats. The risk of escalation seemed too great for either. For the rest of the world, this is very reassuring. Likewise encouraging is the prospect of old fronts buckling elsewhere in the region, and the possibility that the US could play a constructive role in this development - in the person of the Democratic Speaker of the House. Perhaps there will be change." Pelosi in Syria ¶6. US Speaker of the House of Representatives Democrat Nancy Pelosi, after talks in Damascus, has said Syria is ready to resume peace talks with Israel. She explained she had delivered a similar message from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to Syria's President Bashar Al-Assad. US President Bush has accused Pelosi of damaging his administration's Middle East efforts and of sending "mixed messages" to Syria. An Austrian daily describes Pelosi's trip to the region as a "slap in the face" for President Bush. Liberal daily Der Standard writes that Nancy Pelosi's visit to Syria has been harshly criticized by the White House. Such visits and photo-ops were "counterproductive," and would merely affirm Assad's administrations in their belief that they were part of the established international community, President Bush argued. The daily's foreign affairs writer Christoph Winder argues that Pelosi's "signal to the American public is clear: The Democrats have lost patience with George W. Bush and as much as they can, they will not hesitate to take charge of the foreign policy agenda while he is still in office. Pelosi's conduct reflects the fundamentally changed distribution of power in US domestic policy. Bush and his party are in the political doldrums. More and more leading Republicans are distancing themselves from their President with growing speed." Independent provincial daily Salzburger Nachrichten suggests that President Bush was apparently "passed over" in Pelosi's decision to visit Syria. The images of her self-assured appearances and her meeting with Syrian President Assad must have been quite painful for the US President, the daily speculates, and adds that the trip and Pelosi's determination casts a critical light on President Bush's Mideast policy, which some US diplomats have admitted has reached a deadlock. The Democrat's visit with Assad also emphasized the US President's political solitude, the Salzburger Nachrichten believes, and quotes conservative columnist Bob Novak as commenting that "Bush is as isolated as Nixon was at the height of Watergate." The daily adds that Pelosi's trip has allegedly been welcomed by a number of high-ranking State Department and Pentagon officials, and it comes at a time when Bush's political allies in the Middle East have signaled that their increasing distance from the US President. Interview with David Frum ¶7. In an interview with a leading Austrian daily, former Bush aide and presidential speech writer David Frum, the "man who co-authored the famous 'axis-of-evil' speech," as the daily puts it, discusses the United States' miscalculations and problems in Iraq, the Iran crisis and the legacy of US President Bush. Liberal daily Der Standard on April 4 published an interview with David Frum, former speech writer for President Bush. He emphasized that from his point of view, "the US was facing two major problems in Iraq: Because the President - and all of us - had been wrong about the weapons of mass destruction, we arrived in Iraq with very little credibility. The President honestly considered Iraq an immediate threat. He did not lie. Had he wanted to do so, he could have come up with at least 20 better lies than that one." If things in Iraq had gone better, "even without the WMD there would have been no questions. If the weapons had been there and the situation had turned out to be as difficult as it is, it would have been OK too." One problem the US encountered in Iraq, according to Frum, was that "all US plans were tailored towards taking over a functioning Iraqi state. We failed to see that Saddam Hussein's dictatorship had cannibalized itself in its final decade." Nevertheless, he still believes it is "possible to create a functioning Iraqi state, which is capable of controlling its territory, fights terrorism and serves as an example of smoothly running institutions. Indeed, we do have those already: Iraq has the only free media in the Arab world, and it has an elected government. Many security problems remain, but these things are highly unusual in the Arab world." US Supreme Court Enforces Climate Protection ¶8. ... reads the front-page headline of an Austrian daily on April ¶4. The paper reports on the Supreme Court ruling that the Bush administration was wrong to say it did not have the power to regulate exhaust gases from new cars and trucks. According to the Court, the Environmental Protection Agency offered "no reasoned explanation" for refusing to regulate carbon dioxide and other harmful gas emissions from cars. In a front-page report April 4, independent provincial daily Salzburger Nachrichten says the Bush administration's environment and climate policy has received a "harsh rebuke" from the US Supreme Court. The Court criticized the administration's passive stance on climate protection, and demanded that the Environmental Protection Agency EPA issue binding emission limits for exhaust gases from new cars. Greenhouse gases must be rated as pollutants, and the "damage wrought by climate change is serious and generally known," the daily quotes from the ruling. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger sees the Supreme Court decision as affirmation of his policy, the Salzburger Nachrichten says. "We hope the EPA will come to the same conclusion have in California. Greenhouse gases from motor vehicles must be reduced," Schwarzenegger underscored. The daily's foreign affairs writer Thomas Spang commented that the Supreme Court decision is "good news. Now that the EPA has been forced by law to cooperate, chances for excellent climate protection initiatives in (states like California) are not bad. EPA can no longer use threadbare arguments to stall on implementing severe measures against global warming. (...) What the decision means for the rest of the country remains to be seen. The Bush administration will certainly not be over-eager to implement the new provisions. It is now for Congress to increase the pressure on the government." Likewise, commentator for the daily Gerhard Schwischei argued that there is "cause for optimism now that the Supreme Court of the United States has taken a courageous step in making clear to the Bush administration that the refusal of the US environmental agency to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2) is no longer permissible and climate change is a real danger." McCaw