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Viewing cable 09VIENNA1556, AUSTRIA: BURGENLANDERS REMAIN EU-SKEPTICS, DESPITE BENEFITS

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
09VIENNA1556 2009-12-10 07:24 2011-08-26 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Vienna
VZCZCXRO2238
RR RUEHIK
DE RUEHVI #1556/01 3440724
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 100724Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY VIENNA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3827
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 VIENNA 001556 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/CE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV EUN AU
SUBJECT: AUSTRIA: BURGENLANDERS REMAIN EU-SKEPTICS, DESPITE BENEFITS 
OF MEMBERSHIP 
 
VIENNA 00001556  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
1. Summary: Burgenland, Austria's smallest and poorest province, has 
benefitted enormously from EU membership and the opening of the 
Hungarian border at the end of the Cold War.  Local members of 
Austria's two governing parties - the Social Democrats (SPO) and 
conservative People's Party (OVP) - agree that border-free travel 
and EU assistance grants have been a boon for the economy.  They 
also maintain that the perception of rising crime is grossly 
exaggerated.  Nevertheless, Burgenlanders remain among the most 
EU-skeptical of Austrians.  Though border controls between Austria 
and fellow EU-member Hungary were eliminated in 2007, the GOA 
maintains military patrols in the province.  Local politicians say 
privately that the patrols are a purely symbolic gesture to assure 
older residents who fear the open border will lead to higher crime. 
End Summary. 
 
On the Cutting Edge of Integration 
---------------------------------- 
 
2. With a population of about 280,000 (3% of the national 
population), Burgenland is Austria's smallest province, as well as 
the poorest and flattest.  Though it produces the country's best 
wine, it lacks ski slopes or major cultural attractions.  Burgenland 
is in many ways on the cutting edge of Austrian integration with 
Europe.  The province lies just to the east of Vienna and shares a 
long border with Hungary.  When the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, 
Burgenland became the open door linking Austria to its East Bloc 
neighbor.  Hungarians, and later Poles, Ukrainians, and other 
easterners,  have been a regular presence in the province for years. 
 
EU Skepticism Despite Funding 
----------------------------- 
 
3. Local political leaders agree the open border has been a boon for 
the economy.  And so has the EU -- of the nine Austrian provinces, 
Burgenland is probably the one that should be the most thankful for 
EU membership.  After Austria joined in 1995, the EU designated 
Burgenland as a priority area for regional development assistance. 
Between 2000 and 2006 the EU provided nearly 250 million euros in 
funding, primarily for tourism and technology projects in the 
province.  The results have been impressive; Burgenland has narrowed 
the economic gap with the rest of the country. 
4. But provincial members of the governing SPO and OVP say 
Burgenlanders are, if anything, more EU-skeptical than other 
Austrians.  Christian Sagartz, an OVP provincial MP, told us a 
recent poll indicated that the EU is even less popular in Burgenland 
than in the other provinces.  Gerhard Steier, the SPO Mayor of 
Siegendorf, a Burgenland town with a population of about 2,700, told 
us during a recent visit to the province that Burgenlanders have 
developed a kind of "bunker mentality" in response to a history of 
foreign invasions.  From the Huns, to the Ottomans, to the Soviets, 
foreign armies have passed through the plains of Burgenland en route 
to Vienna.  As a result, Steier said, people have learned to 
jealously protect their property.  The Mayor noted that homeowners 
in the province tend to encircle their gardens with high walls, 
whereas in other Austrian provinces the gardens are open for all to 
see. 
Symbolic Military Patrols 
------------------------- 
 
5. Many residents, particularly older ones, view the shoppers and 
day trippers from Hungary and other countries to the east as 
"invaders" in their own right.  The checkpoints on the border with 
Hungary were shut down at the end of 2007 under the Schengen Treaty, 
further opening a border that had been closed for half a century 
before the fall of the Berlin Wall.  In response to concerns that 
increasing cross-border traffic would mean more crime, the Austrian 
Government continued to deploy troops to patrol Burgenland even 
after the checkpoints were closed.  The patrols remain popular and 
in September 2009 the GOA extended them for another year.  But 
political contacts in the province seem embarrassed by the military 
presence, which they say is purely symbolic.  Steier said the 
soldiers do not even have arrest authority - if they were to witness 
a crime, they would have to call the police.  He said they are there 
to reassure local residents nostalgic for the "safer" days of the 
Cold War when the border was sealed. 
 
6. Burgenland, like the rest of Austria, has seen an increase in 
certain types of crimes in recent years.  But by any reasonable 
standard it remains a safe, even sleepy, province.  Some of our 
contacts acknowledged that the open border has probably contributed 
to a modest rise in crime, particularly burglaries.  But Rudolf 
Strommer, OVP floor leader in the provincial parliament, averred to 
us that the real cause is an increase in the number of asylum 
seekers residing in the province.  Asylum cases often drag on for 
years, during which time applicants are not permitted to work.  Some 
misuse this idle time by getting involved in petty crimes, he said. 
 Strommer said about 1.6 percent of all Austrian crime is committed 
in Burgenland, though 6 percent of the national police force is 
assigned to the province.  He said fears, not the facts, account for 
the widespread perception of rising crime.  "Every time someone 
 
VIENNA 00001556  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
steals a car, everyone, including the press, blames it on the EU and 
the open border," he said. 
7.  Strommer said the public is equally misguided in its views of 
the economic consequences of EU membership and border-free travel. 
Even EU development aid, which has done wonders for Burgenland, has 
generated complaints.  Strommer compared economic aid to a drug that 
requires a higher dosage to maintain the same effect -- 
Burgenlanders appreciate the assistance, but complain that they 
don't receive more.  Markus Prenner, party manager of the OVP 
Burgenland, said even the direct beneficiaries of EU funding argue 
that the grants need to be raised and extended further into the 
future. 
8. Steier also sees a sharp divergence between public perception and 
economic reality.  His town is located near a once highly subsidized 
sugar factory that closed its doors in 2003.  Older residents 
maintain that things were better back when the sugar factory 
provided good, reliable employment.  When he explains that the 
factory provided 300 low-paid jobs, and that some 800 people 
currently work in better-paid positions in the area around the 
factory, they don't believe him.  These same folks, he said, 
complain to him about the Hungarians who come to use the public 
swimming pools in the summer.  Some have even spread a false rumor 
that Hungarians are offered a lower admission price.  In reality, he 
said, many local residents have installed swimming pools in their 
backyards and no longer use the community facilities, and the 
Hungarians have helped replace the lost revenue. 
"Europaforum" Seeks to Promote EU 
--------------------------------- 
 
9. Strommer and Prenner claim the OVP is the only party that 
campaigns in the province on a pro-EU line.  The OVP leadership is 
close to Europaforum Burgenland, an organization dedicated to 
educating the public about the EU in Burgenland as well as in 
Hungary and Slovenia.  Europaforum is funded by the EU and is 
officially non-partisan, but its conservative, business-oriented 
membership tends toward the OVP.  Prenner said research conducted by 
the organization shows that the open border is a two-way street that 
has benefited Burgenland.  The latest statistics indicate that 
Hungarians spend some 40 million euros per year in Burgenland, twice 
as much as Burgenlanders spend in Hungary, he said. 
10. Such efforts may, in the long run, turn public opinion on the 
EU.  But our contacts said they expect things to get worse before 
they get better.  Martin Hollweck, spokesman for the SPO mayor of 
Mattersburg (population 7,000), said the rightwing, xenophobic 
Freedom Party (FPO) has exploited anxieties over migration and crime 
to promote its anti-EU, anti-foreigner policies.  The FPO drew a 
modest 6 percent in the last provincial elections in 2005, but 
Hollweck expects the party to at least double that in the 2010 
elections, a prediction echoed by others. 
Comment: A Reflection of the National Mood 
------------------------------------------ 
 
11. Public opinion in Burgenland is a slightly more extreme 
reflection of the national mood.  By any objective measure, Austria 
as a whole has benefited from EU membership, but the population 
remains fixated on the perceived negative effects.  The financial 
crisis has recently boosted pro-EU sentiment somewhat, but that 
effect may wear off once the economy improves.