VZCZCXYZ0014
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHVI #0785/01 0861428
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 271428Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY VIENNA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6757
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/WHITEHOUSE WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS VIENNA 000785 
 
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 27, 2007 
 
 
Budget Plans Favor OeVP 
 
¶1. Despite demonstrations of unity, cooperation between the 
coalition partners SPOe and OeVP has been marked by quarrels and 
disagreement. It is therefore hardly surprising that benchmark 
information on Finance Minister Wilhelm Molterer's address in 
Parliament to present the double budget for 2007/2008 has been 
leaked a few days ahead of the speech, Austrian media note. In 
addition, the budget data has revealed that the ministers of junior 
coalition partner OeVP will have twice as much money at their 
disposal as their SPOe colleagues. 
According to ORF online news, SPOe ministers will be able to spend 
21,948 billion Euros this year, while those from the OeVP will have 
46,942 billion at their disposal. This does not surprise Austrian 
economics expert Bernhard Felderer, who explains that the Finance 
Ministry, which is in OeVP hands, is naturally in charge of the bulk 
of the money, given that major expenses including pensions for civil 
servants and federal debt management are paid out of its budget. 
 
 
Key Session for Eurofighter Committee 
 
¶2. Tuesday's session of the investigative committee looking into the 
Austrian Eurofighter purchase is expected to be particularly 
significant: Former Finance Minister Karl-Heinz Grasser and former 
Defense Minister and current Interior Minister Guenther Platter are 
among those asked to testify before the committee. The two 
politicians will be questioned on details of the Eurofighter 
purchase negotiations as well as the contents of the contract. 
ORF online news writes that the head of the Eurofighter 
investigative committee, Greens MP Peter Pilz, plans to ask former 
Finance Minister Karl-Heinz Grasser and former Defense Minister 
Guenther Platter tough questions on the jets' purchase process. 
Opponents of the deal have accused the two of having negotiated to 
Austria's disadvantage. Minister Platter is also expected to be 
questioned about the still outstanding software licenses from the 
US, which are required for the planes, ORF online news notes. 
Liberal daily Der Standard meanwhile reports that two US military 
personnel will be stationed at the Zeltweg barracks in Austria when 
the Eurofighters arrive in the country. The two US soldiers will be 
in charge of monitoring the navigation software's security. 
 
 
Leitl Welcomes Infrastructure Spending 
 
¶3. The President of the Austrian Chamber of Economics, Christoph 
Leitl, has said he is satisfied with the government's ambitious 
investment program in infrastructure. Speaking shortly after the 
SPOe-OeVP coalition announced spending of 11 billion Euros on road 
and railway projects over the next four years, Leitl stressed that 
clear priorities had been set for the most important tasks. It 
remains unclear, however, how the government's infrastructure 
program will be financed, one Austrian daily notes. 
Like all Austrian media, semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung reports 
on the coalition government's decision to invest 11 billion Euros in 
road and rail links until 2010. The major projects include the 
so-called Brenner-Basis tunnel, the Semmering tunnel and a central 
railway station for Vienna. Finance Minister Wilhelm Molterer from 
the OeVP said it was the biggest infrastructure investment any 
Austrian government had ever undertaken in a single term of office. 
Independent provincial daily Salzburger Nachrichten comments that 
the "costs for tunnels are exploding, but many other projects have 
been put on the back burner." And centrist daily Die Presse argues 
that "future generations will have to pay for the government's 
ambitious plans for Austria's infrastructure." 
 
 
Ambassador Visits Linz 
 
¶4. US Ambassador to Austria Susan McCaw visited the Upper Austrian 
capital Linz on March 21. At the Austrian bank Oberbank she spoke 
about the opportunities and risks of globalization and the 
transatlantic relationship. 
Upper Austrian regional daily Neues Volksblatt in a report on March 
23 calls US Ambassador to Austria Susan McCaw the "Ambassador of 
economic upswing." McCaw was welcomed in the Upper Austrian capital 
Linz on March 21 by the director general of the Austrian bank 
Oberbank Franz Gasselsberger. In her PAS-facilitated speech on 
globalization and the transatlantic relations, the Ambassador - 
whose professional background is investment banking - praised 
Austria as "having the potential to permanently take its place among 
Europe's leading business locations." She has been particularly 
impressed by Upper Austria's economic strength, the daily says, and 
adds that Upper Austrian Governor Josef Puehringer returned McCaw's 
compliment, saying that it was the "US that recently had led Europe 
back on the path of economic growth." In a similar vein, Oberbank 
director general Gasselsberger underscored that in his view, the 
United States remains the "most important engine of the current 
positive economic development." Mass-circulation tabloid Kronen 
Zeitung for Upper Austria also reports on the Ambassador's visit, 
and notes that her talk upon invitation of bank director 
Gasselsberger was moderated by "ORF legend" Klaus Emmerich. Among 
the prominent guests at the event was also Joachim Haindl-Grutsch, 
the managing director of Upper Austria's industrialists 
association. 
 
 
Iran Questioning British Sailors 
 
¶5. Iran says it is questioning the 15 captured British sailors and 
marines to determine if their alleged entry into Iranian territorial 
waters was intentional or unintentional and will then decide what to 
do with them. Iran and Britain continue to disagree over the matter. 
Observers say Tehran has softened its stance on the captured sailors 
and may be opening the way for a negotiated outcome. 
Mass-circulation daily Kurier suggest the crisis over the British 
soldiers held captive in Iran could be a politically motivated 
arrest. Tehran could use the sailors as leverage, the daily says and 
explains: Arab media reported the allegedly spontaneous arrest had 
been ordered on March 18 by the Iranian Defense Council. The British 
military personnel could be released in exchange for five members of 
a special unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, captured by US troops 
in Iraq in January, and for a top agent who disappeared in Turkey. 
Tehran is concerned the men could reveal details of Iranian covert 
operations, the Kurier says, and comments that it "would not be the 
first time that soldiers have been offered up as pawns in political 
machinations or as leverage to escalate crises." Iran, however, 
denies the allegations. 
Meanwhile, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana has held talks with 
Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani. It is believed he 
renewed an offer from the five permanent UN Security Council members 
and Germany to negotiate over Tehran's nuclear ambitions. EU sources 
say there is "no reason for panic" over the status of Iran's nuclear 
program, which was less advanced than initially believed, according 
to an EU diplomat, says liberal daily Der Standard. 
Kilner