VZCZCXYZ0004
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHVI #3400/01 3281418
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 241418Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY VIENNA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5623
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/WHITEHOUSE WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS VIENNA 003400 
 
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: KPAO AU OPRC
 
SUBJECT: AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: November 24, 2006 
 
 
SPOe and OeVP Divided Over Bank Committee 
 
¶1. An expert opinion on the bank investigation committee, compiled 
by the Chancellor's Office, is threatening to strain even further 
the already critical coalition negotiations between the SPOe and the 
OeVP. The expert opinion concluded there was no obligation to 
provide documents or compel state officials to testify before the 
committee. According to this expert opinion, the Financial Markets 
Supervisory Agency cannot be investigated by the bank committee. 
Criticism centers on the concept that the committee is a state 
institution that is not subject to parliamentary control. According 
to Josef Cap from the SPOe, this is "unthinkable" - for him, it is 
clear that "Parliament has to have the last word," quotes mass 
circulation daily "Kurier." For Werner Kogler from the Greens, this 
would make a change in the law necessary. He is quoted by the daily 
as saying that "the Court of Audit, a parliamentary institution, 
checks National Bank and the Financial Markets Supervisory Agency -- 
and yet parliamentarians aren't allowed to do the same? There is 
something wrong with that." According to centrist daily "Die 
Presse," another controversial point is timing:  According to the 
SPOe, the Chancellor had requested the expert opinion three days 
before suggesting compilation of such an opinion to his 
co-negotiator Alfred Gusenbauer. VP Parliamentarian Guenter 
Stummvoll denied this, saying the opinion presented to the 
Chancellor by his own office three days before his meeting with 
Gusenbauer was "only a shortened version." 
 
Internal SPOe Quarrel About Tuition Fees 
 
¶2. SPOe education spokesman Josef Broukal has been sharply 
reprimanded by his party for his readiness to bend on the issue of 
tuition fees. His suggestion to maintain tuition fees but give 
interest-free loans to students who are ineligible for financial aid 
and have to earn money on the side met with resistance from students 
as well as from other SPOe politicians. The Provincial Governor of 
Burgenland, Hans Niessel, immediately denied that Broukal's proposal 
represented an SPOe position, and instead is Broukal's "private 
opinion." According to independent daily "Der Standard," Niessel 
asserted that the "official SPOe position has in no way changed." In 
this, he was seconded by other SP officials, among them Erwin 
Niederwieser, SP spokesman on educational issues. For the student 
parliament OeH, Broukal's suggestion sounded like "an OeVP 
proposal," and OeVP Minister of Education Elisabeth Gehrer was quick 
to point out that Broukal's suggestion of a student loan model was 
already implemented by the current government. She applauded 
Broukal's "apparent readiness to keep the tuition fees," writes the 
daily. 
 
Schuessel Wants to Remain in Politics 
 
¶3. In an interview with mass circulation provincial daily "Kleine 
Zeitung," Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel asserted his intention to 
remain in politics, but left open the question of which function he 
would assume. The primary goal now is to get coalition negotiations 
moving, Schuessel said. A possible future SPOe/OeVP coalition would 
have to solve bigger problems than just the Eurofighter and tuition 
fees issues - it will have to find answers to the problems of 
migration, an aging society and climate change, the Chancellor said. 
Looking back on previous grand coalitions, Schuessel praised the 
coalition from 1989 to 1995 as the most productive. Working up to 
the Austrian EU accession and the rediscovery of Central Europe, the 
coalition had done well, but after that, the social partners, 
especially the trade unions, had stalled, for instance on the 
crucial issue of pension reform. "That cut off the lifeline of the 
grand coalition," Schuessel said. The project could only be revived 
if both sides profited, rather than a situation where there is "a 
hero and a loser." With regard to his own political future, 
Schuessel refused to comment on speculation he would go to Brussels, 
and did not rule out that he could be part of the next government. 
In the interview, he stressed that he would only recommend his party 
accept the result of the negotiations "if I am convinced that there 
is life in this project and I could be part of it with a clear 
conscience." 
 
Iraqi Women Politicians in Vienna 
 
¶4. Iraqi parliamentarian and women's rights activist Rajaa 
al-Khuzai, one of three women in the previous Iraqi interim 
government, and her daughter Daliya Sahwkat participated in a press 
breakfast Nov. 22.  The two Iraqis led a discussion on the situation 
of women in Iraq, organized by Embassy Vienna PAS that afternoon at 
the Amerika Haus. According to mass circulation daily "Kurier" and 
centrist daily "Die Presse," the two women mostly complained at a 
press event organized by the Vienna NGO Women Without Borders about 
the self-isolation of Iraqi women due to the catastrophic security 
situation. While their legal situation has improved since Saddam 
Hussein's dictatorial reign, they are now afraid to leave their 
homes. Al-Khuzai defended the US invasion and stated that "despite 
all the bad things that are happening at present, we have a better 
life now than we had in the times of the dictatorship under Saddam;" 
her 24-year-old daughter agreed, but pointed out that life for young 
Iraqi women has become more difficult. She would like to "just live 
a normal life," but that is not possible in Iraq now. 
 
EU-Russia Agreement Dead Before Helsinki Summit 
 
¶5. Even before the EU-Russia summit begins in Helsinki on Friday, it 
is clear there will be no cooperation agreement between the Union 
and Russia. Poland has already vetoed the prospective agreement in 
anger over Russia's blocking of Polish meat imports. Now Russia is 
threatening to block meat imports from the entire EU. This 
controversy is threatening to get the summit off to a decidedly bad 
start, actually strengthening Moscow by giving it the opportunity to 
divide the Union, writes centrist daily "Die Presse." For the "old" 
EU states, a functioning energy partnership is even more important 
than human rights issues, while the "new" EU states feel threatened 
by Moscow. In view of the unfortunate alliance between a strong 
Russia and a divided Europe, EU experts fear the worst:  "The 
relations between the EU and Russia moves from one crisis to the 
next ," concludes Neil Melvin of the European Centre for Policy 
Studies in Brussels, pointing out that the EU, with its internal 
quarrels, is playing into Moscow's hands. Putin did not really want 
a new agreement anyway, Melvin stated. Meanwhile, the Russian 
President is trying to disprove such allegations:  He called for 
further talks even after the Polish veto, writes "Die Presse." 
 
Ex-Spy Presumably Poisoned 
 
¶6. Former Russian spy and prominent Kremlin critic Alexander 
Litwinenko died Thursday night in a London hospital after a 
three-week ordeal. In a last interview before his death, he spoke of 
a poison attack ordered by the Kremlin to silence him. According to 
doctors at the University College Hospital where he underwent 
treatment, Alexander Litwinenko died of heart failure. However, 
Scotland Yard is investigating on the grounds of "unknown cause of 
death," writes ORF online. The Kremlin critic fell ill after a 
meeting with an Italian security expert in a London sushi restaurant 
in early November. According to Alexander Goldfarb, a friend of 
Litwinenko, he was the victim of a Kremlin conspiracy. The former 
spy was allegedly researching the murder of Russian journalist Anna 
Politkovskaya. He had lived in London since 2002 and had political 
refugee status. Meanwhile, the Russian delegation in Helsinki, where 
Putin will be facing critical questions from journalists about 
Litwinenko's death, has rejected charges that the Russian President 
is behind the alleged poisoning of Litwinenko. The Russian 
intelligence service FSB has likewise denied any responsibility. 
 
Dutch Prime Minister Without Partners 
 
¶7. After the election in the Netherlands, Prime Minister Balkenende 
finds himself without an obvious coalition partner - although his 
Christian Democrats have won, they cannot govern:  His coalition no 
longer has a majority in Parliament and new partners are nowhere in 
sight. His liberal coalition partner VVD headed by controversial 
Minister of Immigration Rita Verdonk lost heavily and not even a 
grand coalition with the Social Democrats will work:  They lost ten 
seats and now have only 32. Balkenende spoke of a "complicated 
result." Populists from the margins of the right and left took votes 
away from the traditional parties, independent daily "Salzburger 
Nachrichten" sums up the Dutch election results. The populists are 
united in their rejection of an EU constitution, for which reason 
"SN's" foreign affairs writer Stephan Israel concludes "there is no 
brave signal from The Hague of a new beginning - rather there is a 
signal to return to a time before globalization. The EU could be the 
solution for globalization and protection against social 
dismantling. But to do that, it would have to be equipped by its 
member states with the necessary powers, which a constitution could 
have provided. However, no election campaign can be won by putting 
Europe in its center." 
Phillips