AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: April 11, 2008

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SUBJECT: AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: April 11, 2008


Fewer Asylum Applications since Schengen


1. Fears that Austria would receive a flood of asylum seekers after
the enlargement of Europe's Schengen Zone appear to have been
unfounded. The Interior Ministry in Vienna says there have been
fewer applications for asylum in the three months since the borders
opened in January 2008 than in the same period last year. Announcing
the figures on Thursday, Interior Minister Guenther Platter (OeVP)
said the scaremongers in association with Schengen had thus been
discredited. Platter also said the number of asylum seekers sent
back to the EU country in which they had first applied had increased
significantly. At the same time that Austria's Interior Minister
emphasized the fact that the number of applications for asylum has
gone down since the enlargement of the Schengen Zone, Austrian
industry leaders are backing immigration, saying the country can no
longer sit back and watch qualified immigrants go elsewhere for
work. Federation of Austrian Industry President Veit Sorger said:
"Austria needs qualified immigrants for economic and business
reasons. We cannot look on much longer as qualified specialists pass
our country by and as less qualified persons enter many fields,"
semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung quotes. Commenting on an existing
deficiency of specialists in Austria he added that more than 60
percent of enterprises struggle to find suitable personnel. The
Federation is also set to push for a "set of provisions" to improve
the Austrian economy, such as school and education reform,
advancement of women and provisions to make jobs and family more
compatible. Sorger said the Federation welcomed Interior Minister
Guenther Platter's "Platform for integration and security" and the
Integration Report, "because it addresses the fundamental parameters
of successful integration." According to Sorger, the Federation was
also pleased with the promotion of language programs and the
possibility of quick entry into the education system for migrants.
However, he criticized the existing quota system for immigrants and
called for a "transparent, criteria based immigration system."



How the "Likeable Factor" Drives the US Election Campaign


2. In a PAS-facilitated interview with an Austrian English language
radio station, US political analyst Amy Walter assessed trends and
developments of this year's US presidential election campaign. She
discussed the "likeable factor" of the three contestants, Hillary
Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain, and how that might affect
their chances of winning. Walter also pointed out that as a result
of the extremely long campaign; the "exhaustion factor" among the
Democratic presidential hopefuls was already particularly high. The
US media, meanwhile, are "more interested in the competition between
Clinton and Obama" than in the Republican candidate McCain, the
expert said on ORF radio FM4 on March 31.
In a PAS-facilitated interview aired on March 31 on Austrian English
language radio station FM4, US political analyst Amy Walter
discussed the three presidential hopeful's "likeable factor'"
influence on the election campaign: "Hillary Clinton is the most
defined of the candidates. She is probably the least likeable. [When
it comes to] the likeable factor, she has the highest negatives of
the three candidates. She has this low ceiling, where a certain
number of people like her, but also a certain number of people who
will never like her. They've already made up their minds. There is
very little in this election that will change anybody's mind about
Hillary Clinton - like or dislike." Regarding Barack Obama, "he's
much better liked, but the people have also said that they don't
know much about him. So, he has what seems like an almost limitless
ceiling. At the same time, we don't know where his floor goes,
either. So it's a much more dramatic range than Hillary Clinton's.
Low ceiling, but high floor: That is also John McCain. He is liked
right now, people feel they do know him, he has high approval
ratings, but he has not been defined, either."
Meanwhile, with Clinton and Obama the "exhaustion factor is already
quite "serious. Particularly in early morning interviews, they look
worn out. I can't emphasize enough how atypical this election is."
McCain "looks like he can rise above all this." His message seems to
be: "While the 'Democrats are talking about petty little things and
silly little debates, I can talk to world leaders, and I am putting
forward my plan for foreign policy.' The problem, of course, is that
the media is much more interested in the back and forth between
Obama and Clinton. It's a story, it's still a race; McCain has a
harder time getting coverage in the media. And when he does, the
coverage he gets is often about his age. When he does get attention,
it is not always positive. But he is doing two things: One, he is
trying to look presidential, and he is using it to raise money.
Remember, he is woefully behind the Democrats in terms of
fundraising."


Darabos Wants To Extend Chad Deployment


3. Austria's Defense Minister Norbert Darabos (SPOe),who just
returned from a visit to Chad, has called for an extension of the
Austrian contingent's deployment to the EUFOR humanitarian
assistance mission in the African country. The soldiers are
scheduled to return home by summer this year, but Darabos says he
wants them to remain until March 2009. Speaking to Austrian radio,
Darabos explained he needs to "discuss and coordinate" his plan with
the Foreign Minister and then with the other cabinet members. He
believes the EUFOR troops "can effectively protect the refuges.
Security in the region has already been established to a certain
extent, simply because of the troops' presence there," the Minister
said. EUFOR's main task - to protect the refugees in Chad's border
region with Sudan - could take years to accomplish, according to ORF
radio early morning news Morgenjournal.


Democrats Blast Bush over Iraq

In the United States, the Democrats have harshly criticized a
decision by President George Bush to suspend a planned withdrawal of
troops from Iraq, which was due to begin after July. According to
the President, the suspension will allow General David Petraeus to
assess the next step in Iraq. Nanci Pelosi, the Democratic Speaker
of the House, however, accused George Bush of putting off major
decisions for the next US President and of failing to answer key
questions, including "when are we going to bring the troops home?
This is a question we have been asking the President over and over
again. He is just dragging this out so we can put it at the doorstep
of the new President of the United States," Austrian radio quotes
her on ORF radio early morning news Morgenjournal.


UNSG Won't Attend Olympics Opening

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon will not attend the
opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. A UN spokesperson said the
decision had been taken some time ago, and was due to previous
commitments. The Olympic torch relay has arrived in Argentina today,
and the capital Buenos Aires is preparing for protests over China's
crackdown in Tibet. Meanwhile, UN special rapporteur on torture
Manfred Nowak has harshly criticized Beijing for not allowing the UN
High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit Tibet to assess the
situation there, liberal daily Der Standard writes.
Kilner