VZCZCXYZ0007
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHVI #0552/01 0640727
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 050727Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY VIENNA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6518
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/WHITEHOUSE WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS VIENNA 000552 
 
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: March 02, 2007 
 
 
Agreement on Double Budget 
 
¶1. After the Defense and Finance Ministers reconciled their 
differences over allocation of funds for the defense portfolio, the 
coalition partners SPOe and OeVP agreed yesterday on a double budget 
for 2007 and 2008. The spending plan is expected to be presented in 
parliament before the end of March. This year's deficit will be 1.12 
percent of GDP at most, Finance Minister Wilhelm Molterer told 
Austrian journalists, while 2008's deficit is expected to be at 0.88 
percent. 
Following the agreement on the budget for 2007 and 2008, Finance 
Minister Wilhelm Molterer stressed the accord proves that the grand 
coalition is working and the SPOe and OeVP have shown they want the 
government to work effectively. Although he forecast the deficit for 
2007 at 1.12 percent, he expects the actual figure to be below that, 
Molterer told journalists, adding that his strategy is to "save 
money where we need to and invest where investment is necessary." He 
is following a course of "economic common sense," aimed at creating 
the necessary buffer for future tax cuts, ORF online news quotes the 
Minister.  However, even with a deficit below the projected value, 
he is ruling out a new round of tax reform before 2010, Molterer 
says. Liberal daily Der Standard says that in their dispute over the 
budget, Molterer has given in and agreed to meet Defense Minister 
Norbert Drabos's demand for an additional 100 million Euros for the 
defense portfolio. The money is to come from the sale of several 
Austrian barracks, the daily explains. In an interview with the 
Standard, Molterer explained it is a "budget that on the one hand is 
marked by absolute discipline in taking advantage of the positive 
business developments, and on the other hand identifies key areas we 
consider politically significant." 
 
 
Fundamental Rights Agency Opens In Vienna 
 
¶2. EU Commission President Jos Manuel Barroso on Thursday opened a 
Fundamental Rights Agency here in Vienna to help combat 
discrimination on the basis of race, gender or religion. The agency 
replaces the EU's Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia. Its 
purpose will be to collect data on violations of fundamental rights, 
provide advice to the EU and its member states, and to raise public 
awareness. 
The OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights 
(ODIHR) has welcomed the opening of the new Fundamental Rights 
Agency in Vienna, semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung says, and 
quotes the director of ODIHR, Ambassador Christian Strohal, who 
said, "The creation of the Fundamental Rights Agency will further 
strengthen the EU's role in effectively protecting human rights." He 
added, "I believe it will help create a unique pool of expertise 
that can also influence democratic development beyond the EU's 
borders," and said his office hopes the EU will put greater emphasis 
on human rights through the Agency.  Critics, however, have said the 
agency will duplicate work being done by the Council of Europe and 
the UN. But Justice Commisioner Franco Frattini empahsized the 
European Union had to promote fundamental rights if it was to 
achieve "a Europe of which we can be proud - a Europe which is 
richly diverse, where people are integrated and live side-by-side, 
and gender, racial and other inequalities are overcome," according 
to the Wiener Zeitung. 
 
 
Ambassador's Op-Ed on Iran 
 
¶3. An Austrian weekly publishes a guest commentary by US Ambassador 
to Austria Susan McCaw on the United States' stance on Iran. The US 
has "absolutely no desire for a military confrontation" with Iran, 
and is "not preparing for a war," but remains "committed to seeking 
a diplomatic solution," the Ambassador underscored. 
Ambassador's Op-Ed on Iran 
In a guest commentary published by Austrian economics weekly Format 
in its March 2 issue, US Ambassador to Austria Susan McCaw 
emphasized the United States has "absolutely no desire for a 
military confrontation with Iran." However, by its "continuing 
refusal to meet its international obligations, the Government of 
Iran seems determined to make it as difficult as possible to reach a 
diplomatic solution," the Ambassador points out, citing UNSC 
Resolution 1737, and the most recent IAEA report on Iran. The 
Iranian leadership's attitude is "increasingly isolating their 
country from the international community," says the Ambassador, 
again emphasizing that the United States "remains committed to 
seeking a diplomatic solution." The US and the other four Permanent 
Members of the UNSC, plus Germany, have begun work on "another 
resolution, which we expect will further tighten sanctions against 
Iran." Iran's "intransigence is difficult to understand," the 
Ambassador argues, particularly given the "attractive package of 
incentives for Iran, including economic and technical assistance to 
help Iran develop the peaceful civilian nuclear power program it 
claims it is seeking, in exchange for suspending uranium enrichment 
and reprocessing," which the five UN veto powers and Germany agreed 
on in Vienna lasts spring. That offer is "still on the table," and 
Secretary Rice reiterated it on February 21, saying she was prepared 
 
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to meet her Iranian counterpart "for substantive discussions once 
enrichment and reprocessing has been suspended." The people of Iran 
"deserve better than to have their government lead them further into 
international isolation," Ambassador McCaw concludes. 
 
 
 
 
 
Taliban Leader Allegedly Held In Pakistan 
 
¶4. Intelligence officials in Pakistan say a key figure in the 
Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan has been arrested. Mullah 
Obaidullah Achund, who was Defense Minister when the Taliban were in 
power, was reportedly seized in the Pakistani city of Quetta. There 
has been no official confirmation of the arrest at this point, 
according to ORF online news. 
 
 
UN Chief Warns on Climate Change 
 
¶5. UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has warned that climate change 
is as big a risk to the world as war. Speaking to schoolchildren at 
a UN conference in New York, he said upheavals caused by climate 
change are likely to be a major cause of conflict. He urged the 
United States to take the lead in fighting global warming -- the US 
is the world's biggest producer of greenhouse gases. 
Meanwhile, independent provincial daily Salzburger Nachrichten 
reports that since the recent experts' warnings on the drastic 
effects of global warming, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has made 
the environment one of her key issues. In a statement on Thursday, 
she emphasized the necessity of an effective climate protection 
strategy, saying she does not simply want to "sit back and watch" 
global warming take its toll. The European Union would have to "take 
the lead" and cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020, 
Merkel stressed. The EU had to prove that the "economy and ecology 
can be reconciled." Merkel is hoping to make further headway with 
her plans at the upcoming G-8 summit and at the US-EU summit later 
this year if the EU follows the goal already proposed by the 
Commission, the daily says. 
 
 
Progress on Iran Sanctions 
 
¶6. State Department officials say there has been progress in talks 
with major powers on imposing further sanctions on Iran over its 
refusal to suspend its uranium enrichment program. The five 
permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany held a conference 
call on the issue yesterday. 
According to a report in centrist daily Die Presse, "the more 
obvious it becomes that international sanctions are unlikely to stop 
the Iranian nuclear research program, the more aggressive Israel's 
stance towards Iran is becoming." The chair of Likud's parliamentary 
security committee Yuval Steinitz believes that Tehran's nuclear 
project can be stopped by a military strike, the daily quotes. 
Although Premier Ehud Olmert is urging intensified diplomatic 
efforts, he emphasized that "all options remain on the table" for 
Israel, should sanctions not be successful. A number of Israeli 
experts meanwhile believe a military strike is necessary, and should 
be launched "before Iran is in possession of sufficient fissionable 
material to build a bomb." In short: Experts and MPs in Jerusalem 
are openly debating the option of air raids on Iranian nuclear 
facilities, the daily claims. 
 
 
US Running Out of Time in Iraq 
 
¶7. American military experts say the United States has about six 
months left to win the war in Iraq. The team headed by Gen. David 
Petraeus has warned of a rapid deterioration of the situation in 
Iraq, which could lead to a hurried withdrawal of US troops and what 
they describe as a "Vietnam-like defeat," Austrian media report, 
sourcing several British newspapers. 
Semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung says that according to 
strategists the only way for the US to achieve victory in Iraq is 
through a temporary increase of US troop levels there as well as a 
gradual transfer of power to Iraqi authorities. The deployment of an 
additional 20,000 troops to Iraq, the experts say, is not enough to 
defeat the insurgency, particularly in and around Baghdad. Gen. 
Petraeus' team also warned of the consequences of dissolving the 
international coalition forces in Iraq and of a potential increase 
in violence in southern Iraq, where 1,600 British troops will be 
pulled out in the coming months, Wiener Zeitung writes. 
McCaw