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TAGS: KPAO AU OPRC
 
SUBJECT: AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: February 21, 2007 
 
 
Westenthaler to Testify Before Banking Committee 
 
¶1. BZOe boss Peter Westenthaler is scheduled to testify today before 
the parliamentary investigative committee looking into the scandal 
surrounding former union-owned bank Bawag. He is suspected of having 
intervened in favor of investment banker Wolfgang Floettl, a key 
figure in the Bawag affair. Westenthaler complained the summons for 
his testimony was motivated by a political campaign directed against 
the BZOe in the face of a recent surge in voters' support for his 
party, he claims. 
Semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung quotes BZOe leader Westenthaler 
as admitting that he "did intervene" in connection with investment 
banker Wolfgang Floettl and discussed the issue with former Justice 
Minister Karin Gastinger -- but not to do Floettl a favor, but 
rather to "speed up the proceedings" against him. The current 
allegations regarding his intervention were a party-policy 
mudslinging campaign against the BZOe launched by Gastinger and her 
former press spokesperson Christoph Poechinger, Westenthaler claims. 
 
 
 
Deadline on Foreign Students' Quota Extended 
 
¶2. The European Union's Education Commissioner, Jan Figel, has given 
Austria more time to respond to a warning that it will face legal 
action if it does not remove a quota on the number of foreign 
students allowed to study at Austrian universities. The gesture came 
after a meeting in Brussels with Austrian Science Minister Johannes 
Hahn. 
Europe's Education Commissioner Jan Figel said he would extend the 
deadline regarding the removal of a quota on the number of foreign 
students in Austria as long as Austria presented "substantial and 
strong arguments." Austria's Science Minister Johannes Hahn, whose 
portfolio includes universities, said he is convinced that a 
solution meeting EU and Austrian needs can be found. Austria placed 
limits on foreign students following a flood of applications from 
Germans wishing to study medicine, semi-official daily Wiener 
Zeitung and several other Austrian media explain. In January the EU 
took legal steps against Austria and Belgium for not fully opening 
their higher education systems to students from other EU member 
states. The European Commission says the restrictions violate the EU 
principle of free movement of people, and gave both countries two 
months to respond to the Commission's demand to open their 
universities. 
 
 
EU Agrees on Greenhouse Curbs 
 
¶3. EU environment ministers have agreed in principle to cut 
greenhouse emissions by 20 percent from 1990 levels by 2020. The 
ministers, meeting in Brussels, also agreed to seek a 30 percent cut 
worldwide if matched by other developed nations. The proposals, 
outlined by the European Commission in January, are seen as a key 
measure to curb climate change. The EU must still decide how to make 
cuts, allowing for a possible compromise with member states opposed 
to mandatory targets. 
The EU environment ministers' agreement to cut greenhouse emissions 
by 2020 is a "tough test of Europe's efforts to implement an 
ambitious climate policy," centrist daily Die Presse writes. The 
goals formulated by the ministers meeting in Brussels yesterday, are 
also to serve as an EU basis in international negotiations on a new 
global climate protection agreement after the phase-out of the Kyoto 
Protocol in 2012. 
While Hungary and Poland are said to oppose the cuts and Finland has 
also voiced opposition to the targets, the German Environment 
Minister said his country was prepared to go further and cut 
emissions by 40 percent. A number of nations have voiced doubts 
about the effectiveness of national emission limits. 
Austria, meanwhile, is likely to fail to meet its emission reduction 
targets and will have to buy carbon certificates from other 
countries, semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung says. Austria's plan 
calls for greenhouse gas emissions to be reduced to 77.7 million 
tons by 2010, but suggests this will not be achieved, requiring the 
purchase of nine million tons worth of carbon certificates. 
 
 
Waiting for the Serial Numbers 
 
¶4. The affair surrounding the Austrian-made Steyr-Mannlicher rifles, 
allegedly found in the possession of Iraqi insurgents last week, 
continues to "keep both Americans and Austrian on the go," an 
Austrian daily writes. The rifles' serial numbers, which are to 
clarify whether the guns are Steyr-Mannlicher originals or merely 
copies, have not been ascertained at this point, the US Embassy 
Vienna explained. However, should British media reports floated 
earlier this month turn out to be true, and the rifles confirmed as 
Steyr-Mannlicher products, the US would be "profoundly disturbed," 
according to semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung. 
 
 
Britain to Begin Iraq Pullout 
 
¶5. According to media reports, British Prime Minister Tony Blair 
will announce the date today for the beginning of a British troop 
withdrawal from Iraq. About 1,500 of the 7,000 British soldiers 
stationed in Iraq are expected to return home soon. Austrian media 
see this is an about-face by Blair, who in January was still arguing 
a troop pullout would be a "disaster." Meanwhile, US President 
George Bush welcomed the move as a sign the Iraq Coalition's 
strategy to stabilize the country was working. 
On ORF radio's early morning news Morgenjournal, Washington 
correspondent Raimund Loew comments on the British plans for a 
gradual troop pullout from Iraq: "President Bush was personally 
informed by Tony Blair on the withdrawal plan yesterday, the White 
House confirms. The President considers the gradual pullout of the 
British troops as a sign of success, a spokesperson in Washington 
emphasizes. 'We welcome the fact that the situation in Basra has 
improved to such an extent that a transfer of control to the Iraqi 
authorities is possible,' the White House stated. The US, too, 
'wants to bring home its soldiers eventually, but the security 
situation in the south is quite different from the circumstances in 
Baghdad.' Television news in the US reported extensively about the 
planned British pullout - after all, Great Britain is the most 
important ally of the US in Iraq by far. The US President, in turn, 
is under enormous pressure to also present a plan for a gradual 
withdrawal of American troops - something he has clearly rejected up 
to now." 
 
 
Iran Unlikely to Budge 
 
¶6. Iran has again said it will not halt its nuclear activities as a 
precondition for talks on the trade benefits offered by six world 
powers. However, Tehran has offered a guarantee it would not seek 
atomic weapons. The statements came at the end of a grace period 
Iran had been given by the UN Security Council to stop its nuclear 
program. Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani was in Vienna 
yesterday for talks ahead of the publication today of a crucial IAEA 
report, and emphasized his country would not suspend its uranium 
enrichment activities. 
In an interview with mass-circulation provincial daily Kleine 
Zeitung, Middle East expert Karin Kneissl argues that in her opinion 
the threat of new UN sanctions is unlikely to impress Iran. She also 
dismissed rumors of an impending US air strike on Iran. Since the 
1980s, Iran "has been more or less isolated, and has therefore 
become very self-sufficient. Iran can keep large parts of its 
industry up and running, so it is much harder to hit it with 
sanctions than an economically weaker country." A US go-it-alone 
military strike against Iran, Kneills says, "cannot be completely 
ruled out, but I don't believe it is very likely. (...) At this 
point, the US has virtually no allies (for such a move), so a 
military strike would be a huge go-it-alone operation, for which 
there are not enough military bases in the region, either," the US 
could use.  Also, "most of Iran's important facilities are scattered 
all over the country. It would not be easy to destroy them all," 
says Kneissl. 
Meanwhile, in liberal daily Der Standard, Christoph Prantner 
analyzes the alleged US attack plans envisaging air strikes against 
Iran. Sourcing several leading US newspapers and magazines, he says 
the American media reported extensively on the alleged US 
contingency plans for Iran. Some US media have labeled this the 
"clandestine war with Iran," in the wake of a recent Pentagon's 
briefing on suspected ties between the Iranian government and 
insurgents in Iraq. Despite the extremely tough stance the US has 
adopted officially when it comes to Iran, American experts believe a 
US military strike against Iran is highly unlikely, the foreign 
affairs writer argues. Mr. Prantner is currently in Washington on 
the US Embassy supported US-Austrian Journalism Exchange Fellowship 
program. 
 
 
Last Round of Kosovo Talks 
 
¶7. A final round of talks between Serbian and ethnic Albanian 
leaders over the future status of Kosovo province will get underway 
in Vienna today. The focus of these discussions will be a set of UN 
proposals which would give Kosovo all the characteristics of an 
independent state. Serbia, however, continues to oppose independence 
for Kosovo, which has been under UN administration since fighting 
ended there in 1999. Austrian media do not expect a breakthrough in 
today's meeting. 
In an interview with semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung, the UN's 
deputy special envoy for Kosovo, Albert Rohan, confirms the muted 
expectations regarding an agreement between Serbs and Kosovars on 
the province's future status. He points to the hardened fronts ahead 
of the final round of talks, and empahsizes that in his opinion 
Serbia is not willing to compromise. 
McCaw