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TAGS: KPAO AU OPRC
 
SUBJECT: AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: November 02, 2006 
 
 
Gusenbauer-Schuessel Meeting? 
 
¶1. Social Democrats leader Alfred Gusenbauer says he wants to hold a 
face-to-face meeting with Conservatives leader Chancellor Wolfgang 
Schuessel in a bid to break the deadlock over the coalition talks. A 
date for the meeting has not been made public. 
Like all Austrian media, mass-circulation tabloid Oesterreich 
suggests the deadlock of the SPOe-OeVP coalition talks could be 
resolved with a phone call. SPOe chairperson Alfred Gusenbauer will 
call Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel today and invite him to a 
one-on-one discussion of the problematic situation. The move is said 
to have been "urgently requested" by President Heinz Fischer, who 
proposed in his meetings with the two party leaders that they should 
"meet and discuss the matter in person." According to Oesterreich, 
"OeVP insiders" are confident Schuessel will accept the invitation, 
although they do not believe it will solve the problem and get the 
Conservatives' coalition team to return to the negotiating table. 
The date for the meeting is to be kept secret, ORF online news 
writes, but Oesterreich suggests it could be held next Monday or 
Tuesday. Gusenbauer is to "offer Schuessel to include the OeVP's key 
concerns in the coalition package and in particular ask the 
Chancellor what the Conservatives' most important issues are and 
which of them the SPOe will certainly not support. He wants to talk 
about the real issues," the SPOe told Oesterreich. 
 
 
Experts Pessimistic on Coalition Talks 
 
¶2. In the face of recent developments and the breakdown of coalition 
talks, leading political analysts in Austria suggest a re-run of the 
general elections is becoming increasingly likely. In that case, the 
vote would certainly not take place this year. 
ORF radio early morning news Morgenjournal brings an analysis of the 
current deadlock in the Austrian coalition talks, and quotes leading 
political analysts as suggesting a re-run of the general elections 
cannot be ruled out, although such a move would not be wise for the 
country's two major parties. Austrian expert Peter Filzmaier told 
ORF radio that "it would be a hop-or-drop game for the SPOe and the 
OeVP, and entirely unpredictable for the two parties at this point." 
After all, important factors, including the question of whether 
Hans-Peter Martin would run again, whether the OeVP would present 
new candidates, or whether the mood among the Austrian public would 
shift, are not clear. Currently, the experts believe, the SPOe is in 
a stronger position, as the OeVP "has interrupted the negotiations, 
which is why facing elections again would be a considerable risk for 
the Conservatives," says Emmerich Talos. Similarly, political expert 
Ferdinand Karlhofer, suggests the "impression Austrians are getting 
at this point is that the SPOe is willing to negotiate, while the 
OeVP would come off worse" in an election re-run, "because many 
people cannot understand their opposition" to the investigation 
committees.  A new election campaign, however, could slightly change 
the situation, the analysts say. 
 
 
 
 
 
Interview with Chancellor Schuessel 
 
¶3. Following the collapse of coalition negotiations, Chancellor 
Wolfgang Schuessel told an Austrian daily that SPOe chair Alfred 
Gusenbauer, Greens leader Alexander Van der Bellen and FPOe boss 
Heinz-Christian Strache "should have the courage to form a 
three-party coalition." He knows "what the role of the OeVP would be 
in that case," Schuessel added. 
In an interview with mass-circulation daily on November 1, Austrian 
Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel says his party had called off the 
coalition talks, because with the launch of the Eurofighter 
investigation committee, SPOe leader Alfred "Gusenbauer has decided 
to use a SPOe-Greens-FPOe majority against the OeVP in Parliament. 
That is why we will not continue the negotiations for the time 
being." Furthermore, if, for the SPOe, the Eurofighter jets are 
"more important that other pressing issues such as the job market 
situation, then the solution is simple: The three parties (that 
cooperated on the parliamentary investigation committee) should have 
the courage to form a government." The Chancellor underscored that 
the OeVP "does not feel we can continue to work (with the SPOe) on 
this basis of distrust." The Conservatives would "put the coalition 
talks on hold for as long as the (SPOe's) strategy is in place." 
There are options for forming coalitions that would have a majority 
in Parliament, and the OeVP "would know our role in that case." The 
Chancellor concludes that for his party "a re-run of the elections 
is not on the agenda." 
For full interview in German go to: 
http://kurier.at/nachrichten/oesterreich/3657 3.php 
 
 
North Korea Conciliatory in Nuclear Row 
 
¶4. Three weeks after its nuclear test, Pyongyang, in a surprise move 
and apparently under pressure from China, has said it will no longer 
boycott the six-party talks on the termination of its atomic 
program. 
Despite tensions having eased slightly in the crisis over North 
Korea's nuclear program with Pyongyang's statement that it is 
willing to return to the negotiating table, excessive optimism would 
be premature, says independent provincial daily Salzburger 
Nachrichten. After all, North Korea considers its position 
strengthened after its nuclear tests last month. It is a simple 
equation of deterrence, the daily says: Now, the regime in Pyongyang 
can set its own atomic weapons arsenal against the US' nuclear 
arsenal. Washington is urging genuine progress in the negotiations 
on North Korea's nuclear program, while all sides seem to be relived 
over the turn of events, which was largely brought about by China's 
efforts in the matter, the daily says. US President Bush has thanked 
Beijing for its commitment, which has facilitated a re-launch of the 
six-party talks. According to US chief negotiator Christopher Hill, 
the talks could resume this month, although it would still be too 
early to "bring out the champagne and the cigars," the Salzburger 
Nachrichten quotes. In the long run, however, Pyongyang will not be 
convinced to give up its nuclear program without getting some 
"dramatic concessions in return," the daily believes. 
 
 
Iraq Crisis 
 
¶5. At a meeting recently, top-level US military and intelligence 
representatives came to the alarming conclusion that the situation 
in Iraq might deteriorate further and the country could slide "into 
chaos." 
In an analysis of the situation in Iraq, mass-circulation provincial 
daily Kleine Zeitung says that "violence has become an everyday 
aspect of life" in the country. Since last summer, US troop levels 
in Iraq have gone up from 127,000 to about 150,000, the daily says, 
and adds that this reflects the growing concern among the US armed 
forces over the continuously deteriorating situation in Iraq. 
Sourcing the New York Times, the Kleine Zeitung writes top US 
military and intelligence services representatives at their meeting 
recently stated an "all-time high in violence" in the Gulf state, 
and have expressed their concern the country could "drift into 
chaos." They are going to brief US President George Bush on the 
situation in detail within the next days, the Kleine Zeitung writes. 
 
 
 
Last Chance 
 
¶6. With only a few days to go until the US mid-term elections, the 
Republicans are banking on campaign support from their president: 
George Bush is trying to mobilize the party base in traditional 
Republican strongholds. 
Mass-circulation tabloid Oesterrreich says the November 7 
Congressional elections are President Bush's "last election campaign 
during his presidency: He is fighting hard to prevent the Democrats 
from taking over power in Congress, because otherwise he would at 
best run the risk of being a 'lame-duck' president during the last 
two years of his term, and at worst he might be facing impeachment 
proceedings," the daily says. 
Liberal daily Der Standard publishes a report on the "prominent 
campaign supporters: 'Political superstars' like Bill Clinton, Laura 
Bush and Barack Obama are not up for election in the November 7 
vote, but they are popular crowd pullers for their respective 
parties and thus virtually omnipresent these days." 
Meanwhile, mass-circulation provincial daily Kleine Zeitung suggests 
another "election chaos" might be looming: "The new electronic 
voting machines and computers have turned out to be error-prone, as 
glitches during the primaries in a number of states have shown," the 
daily writes. 
McCaw