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SUBJECT: AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: February 08, 2007 
 
 
New Coalition Conflict About Care for the Elderly 
 
¶1. A conflict is under way between Minister for Economy and Labor 
Martin Bartenstein and Minister for Social Issues Erwin Buchinger 
about the former's proposal for a new model for elderly care. 
Buchinger called the Bartenstein initiative "counterproductive" and 
said the proposal should not have been put forth before 
consultations with his Ministry and the social partners. The 
Bartenstein model has also generated controversy between trade 
unions and aid organizations such as Caritas, who criticize the 
model as developed by the Ministry, and industry, which applauds it. 
 
The sore point about the new proposal put forth by Bartenstein's 
Ministry of Economy and Labor is the question of financing, writes 
independent daily "Der Standard." With costs reaching up to 3,000 
euros per month, the domestic care is considered far too expensive 
for most persons in need of care. According to Minister for Social 
Issues Erwin Buchinger, the Bartenstein model makes no sense without 
an adequate proposal for state-subsidized financing. The daily 
points out there are numerous possible approaches to solving the 
problem, but the government is apparently not able or willing to 
grant the additional funding necessary to implement any of them. 
Opposed to the Bartenstein proposal are also aid organizations - 
Caritas Director Michael Landau was quoted by "Der Standard" as 
saying that "all the sums currently in circulation present an 
insurmountable hurdle for most people in this country" - and the 
trade unions, which claim that the work load of caregivers would be 
too great. 
 
Break-In Into Greens Parliamentary Club 
 
¶2. There was a break-in Wednesday night into the offices of Green 
party parliamentarians Peter Pilz and Werner Kogler. A computer and 
camera were stolen and several file cabinets opened by force. Some 
of the cabinets contained Eurofighter files, and the Greens suspect 
the break-in is connected to Pilz and Kogler's work on the 
Eurofighter committee. 
 
Gusenbauer and Merkel Agreed on University Controversy 
 
¶3. On his first trip abroad as Chancellor, Alfred Gusenbauer secured 
German Chancellor Merkel's support in the controversy between 
Austria and the EU about quotas for German medical students who want 
to enroll in Austrian universities. Restrictions on admissions to 
German med schools leads many German students to apply to Austrian 
schools, which have crowding problems of their own. 
Centrist daily "Die Presse" analyzes the Gusenbauer visit toBerlin 
primarily in terms of his ability to extract concessions from 
Chancellor Merkel with regard to this crucial issue. So far, it 
appears he has been fairly successful - Merkel agreed to back the 
Austrian position, according to which 75 percent of all places in 
medical schools will be reserved for Austrian students, 20 percent 
for EU citizens, and 5 percent for non-EU citizens. However, it is 
unclear whether the German support  will make much of an impression 
on the EU Commission. On Wednesday, Frederic Vincent, spokesman of 
EU Commissioner for Education Jan Figl, told "Die Presse" that 
"nothing has changed. We have sent Austria a letter and the 
government in Vienna has two months to react to it." The Austrian 
quotas were "a discrimination against EU citizens by a member 
country" - and as such constituted a clear violation of one of the 
EU's legal principles. A bilateral agreement between Berlin and 
Vienna would probably not change this, Vincent maintained. 
 
World-Wide Child Pornography Ring Discovered 
 
¶4. The Austrian police dealt its heaviest blow to date to child 
pornography by exposing an internationally-operating child 
pornography ring with 2,361 suspects in 77 countries. The youngest 
victim was five years old. Minister of the Interior G|nther Platter 
credited the FBI and other international law-enforcement agencies 
for their involvement, and announced that a tightening of criminal 
law regulations for child pornography was conceivable. 
All Austrian media report on what Minister of the Interior G|nther 
Platter called the "biggest case of circulation" of porn videos ever 
disclosed in Austria. In July, an internet provider in Vienna, which 
had discovered eight videos that had been put onto its server by 
unknown sources, alerted the police. Films offered for a purchase 
price of 89 US dollars could be traced to a Russian website. The 
Austrian operation "Flo," in which Europol and the FBI were involved 
as well, led to investigations on several continents, reports 
independent daily "Der Standard." Most suspects come from the US 
(607), Germany (466) and France (114) - in Austria, 23 persons 
accessed the website. In 2004, Austria introduced more severe 
punishments for the possession of child porn material and now is 
among the 22 countries with the most far-reaching laws against child 
pornography, writes independent daily "Salzburger Nachrichten." 
 
Blacker on Transatlantic Relations 
 
¶5. Coit Blacker, former Clinton Administration national security 
staffer and currently a professor at Stanford University, now in 
Vienna lecturing at the Diplomatic Academy, gave an interview to 
mass circulation daily "Kurier," analyzing the reasons for recent 
problems in the transatlantic relations, and the differences between 
Europe and the US with regard to conflict resolution and the use of 
military force. 
According to Blacker, the deterioration of the transatlantic 
relations over the past few years is not so much the Iraq war than 
something related to the collapse of the USSR and the Eastern block 
- which put an end to the mutual dependence in a geo-strategic 
sense. Freed of the need to stick to each other, the US reverted to 
unilateralism, while Europe moved in a different direction. 
Americans and Europeans had different approaches to international 
conflict resolution, Blacker maintained:  "The European opinion that 
the US is quick to use weapons is true, considering how the 
Europeans solve international problems. However, in the US view, the 
Europeans are so slow in resorting to force that a larger tragedy 
can ensue from non-action. This is a notable but not an unbridgeable 
difference. The same is true for the death penalty. Hardly any 
American will deny a state the right to kill. What seems problematic 
to me is the way this is implemented." 
 
US Offensive in Baghdad Has Begun 
 
¶6. According to US military spokesman Major General William 
Caldwell, the expected all-out offensive of Iraqi and American 
military forces against insurgents in the Iraqi capital began on 
Wednesday. Several units have already begun to implement the 
projected security plan which the Iraqi government has devised for 
Baghdad, Caldwell said. Another source, Major Robbie Parke, told 
news agency AFP that 2,000 US and several hundred Iraqi soldiers 
have begun to comb the Sunni quarter Adhamiya for insurgents and 
weapons. 
General Caldwell reported the loss of a "Chinook 20" helicopter. It 
is as yet unclear whether the helicopter came down because of a 
technical defect or was shot down by rebels, as a Sunni organization 
with connection to al-Qaida has claimed, reports independent daily 
"Salzburger Nachrichten." It is the fifth helicopter lost by US 
troops during the past two weeks. The daily also refers to the 
growing political pressure on the US administration to hasten its 
withdrawal from Iraq. Even Secretary of Defense Robert Gates 
admitted before the Senate defense committee that one would have to 
"consider alternatives," if the military offensive should fail. He 
did not rule out that withdrawal might begin as early as the end of 
this year. 
McCaw