Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09VIENNA600
2009-05-20 07:16:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Vienna
Cable title:
Austrian Government Scraps Plan to Leave CERN (European
how-toVZCZCXRO8662 RR RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLZ RUEHROV RUEHSR DE RUEHVI #0600 1400716 ZNR UUUUU ZZH R 200716Z MAY 09 FM AMEMBASSY VIENNA TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2598 INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES RUEHSW/AMEMBASSY BERN 1189
UNCLAS VIENNA 000600
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: TSPL TPHY AU
SUBJECT: Austrian Government Scraps Plan to Leave CERN (European
Organisation for Nuclear Research)
REF: VIENNA 0583
UNCLAS VIENNA 000600
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: TSPL TPHY AU
SUBJECT: Austrian Government Scraps Plan to Leave CERN (European
Organisation for Nuclear Research)
REF: VIENNA 0583
1. Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann (SPO/Social Democrats)
announced on May 18 that Austria will not/not cancel its membership
in the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN).
Responding to protests from the science community and from leaders
of both coalition parties, Faymann overruled Science Minister
Johannes Hahn, arguing that a withdrawal from CERN would harm
Austria's international reputation. CERN proponents had managed to
garner 30,000 signatures for an internet petition against the
Science Ministry plan (COMMENT: a notable achievement given the
mistrust of most Austrians towards nuclear energy and atomic
sciences).
2. Faymann's intervention was apparently driven by a belated
realization of the direct costs of withdrawing, as well as its
impact on national science programs. Critics claimed that leaving
CERN would cost the GoA some EUR 100 million (primarily to cover the
Austrian share of the new Large Hadron Collider and pension/health
insurance payments for Austrian CERN employees). Powerful Lower
Austria provincial governor Erwin Proell (OVP/conservative People's
Party) also opposed a withdrawal from CERN because it would threaten
the MedAustron project in Lower Austria. Access to CERN is critical
to developing the MedAustron center which plans to use ion-therapy
in cancer treatment starting in 2013.
3. COMMENT: The CERN fiasco reveals much about the Austrian
coalition's lack of internal coordination. A CERN withdrawal would
have run against the grain of Austria's achievements in increasing
R&D spending since 2006. As with the education reform debate, a
government minister announced a new policy only to have it
overturned after public outcry and political skirmishing among
coalition parties. The headline of a popular tabloid captures the
situation: "CERN Clash: Government in a Black Hole." END COMMENT.
ORDWAY
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: TSPL TPHY AU
SUBJECT: Austrian Government Scraps Plan to Leave CERN (European
Organisation for Nuclear Research)
REF: VIENNA 0583
1. Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann (SPO/Social Democrats)
announced on May 18 that Austria will not/not cancel its membership
in the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN).
Responding to protests from the science community and from leaders
of both coalition parties, Faymann overruled Science Minister
Johannes Hahn, arguing that a withdrawal from CERN would harm
Austria's international reputation. CERN proponents had managed to
garner 30,000 signatures for an internet petition against the
Science Ministry plan (COMMENT: a notable achievement given the
mistrust of most Austrians towards nuclear energy and atomic
sciences).
2. Faymann's intervention was apparently driven by a belated
realization of the direct costs of withdrawing, as well as its
impact on national science programs. Critics claimed that leaving
CERN would cost the GoA some EUR 100 million (primarily to cover the
Austrian share of the new Large Hadron Collider and pension/health
insurance payments for Austrian CERN employees). Powerful Lower
Austria provincial governor Erwin Proell (OVP/conservative People's
Party) also opposed a withdrawal from CERN because it would threaten
the MedAustron project in Lower Austria. Access to CERN is critical
to developing the MedAustron center which plans to use ion-therapy
in cancer treatment starting in 2013.
3. COMMENT: The CERN fiasco reveals much about the Austrian
coalition's lack of internal coordination. A CERN withdrawal would
have run against the grain of Austria's achievements in increasing
R&D spending since 2006. As with the education reform debate, a
government minister announced a new policy only to have it
overturned after public outcry and political skirmishing among
coalition parties. The headline of a popular tabloid captures the
situation: "CERN Clash: Government in a Black Hole." END COMMENT.
ORDWAY