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DE RUEHVI #0909/01 0941428
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P 041428Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY VIENNA
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UNCLAS VIENNA 000909 
 
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: OPRC PAO AU
 
SUBJECT: AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: April 04, 2007 
 
Eurofighter: Questionable Ties? 
 
¶1. Greens MP Werner Kogler says he believes a "network" connecting 
intermediaries and Austrian ministry officials was set up 
surrounding the Eurofighter purchase deal, citing specifically two 
members of the Defense Department's evaluation commission, who 
entertained close personal ties with interceptor producer EADS' 
lobbyist Erhard Steininger, and who had also supplied the most 
positive assessments of the jets. 
Speaking to Austrian Press Agency APA, Greens MP Werner Kogler 
argued in connection with the Eurofighter purchase deal that there 
was "strong suspicion" the Finance Ministry had been informed about 
the costs and prices ahead of the publication of the Defense 
Ministry evaluation commission's decision. Four of the five 
sub-commission chairs voting on the purchase had opted for the 
Eurofighter, and in addition the two chairpersons said to have close 
ties with EADS had awarded the Eurofighter considerably more points 
that all the other sub-commission heads. For Kogler, this outcome is 
highly questionable, given the two men's personal connection with 
the Eurofighter manufacturer. 
 
 
 
Gusenbauer in Brussels 
 
¶2. Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer from the SPOe will be the 
guest of the EU Commission in Brussels today. In his meeting with 
Commission President Jos Manuel Barroso, he is expected to also 
bring up controversial topics including foreign student quotas at 
Austrian medical universities and truck transit traffic through the 
country. 
Ahead of Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer's visit with the EU 
Commission, centrist daily Die Presse reports on "disharmony between 
Vienna and Brussels," and explains that a number of hot topics are 
on the agenda at the first meeting of Gusenbauer in his capacity as 
Austrian head of government and Commission President Barroso. In the 
face of disagreement on issues including student quotas, climate 
protection and truck transit traffic, all of which are overshadowing 
relations between Vienna and Brussels, Gusenbauer nonetheless wants 
to use his meeting with Barroso to push Austrian interests, the 
Presse says. The Chancellor is expected to draw on the "positive 
mood" of his March meeting with Barroso in Vienna, according to the 
daily. 
In an interview with mass-circulation tabloid Oesterrreich, 
Gusenbauer explained he would "present the Austrian action plan on 
climate protection to the Commission. I suspect the package has not 
been recognized in its entirety." He wants to "raise awareness" of 
the Austrian strategy and is "confident Brussels will listen." 
Regarding the student quotas, there are "many positive signals from 
Brussels. Commission President Barroso has already assured me there 
will be no solutions that work against Austria." 
 
 
Research Deal Signed In Seoul 
 
¶3. Austrian President Heinz Fischer continued his visit to South 
Korea on Tuesday with a stop at the demilitarized zone between North 
and South Korea. Meanwhile, Science Minister Johannes Hahn and his 
Korean counterpart Kum Woo-sik signed a "Joint Declaration on 
Cooperation in Science and Research." In addition, Austrian State 
Secretary for Research, Christa Kranzl and Woo-sik agreed to 
 
SIPDIS 
intensify cooperation on research related to outer space and the 
International Space Station. 
All Austrian media report on President Heinz Fischer's visit to 
South Korea, with semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung writing that 
Fischer visited the border region with North Korea. He expressed his 
concern over the "rigidity of the border, this surgical rift though 
what is in effect one country with centuries of traditions." South 
Korea had "no choice but to continue the path of de-escalation and 
rapprochement begun by President Kim Dae Yung in the late 1970s, 
Fischer suggested. Likewise, mass-circulation tabloid Kronen Zeitung 
and centrist daily Die Presse write about the President's visit to 
"the most deadly border in the world." The Presse quotes Ambassador 
Chun Yung Woo, South Korea's chief negotiator at the six party 
talks, as being optimistic the situation with North Korea will 
improve. Pyongyang knows that without a solution of the nuclear row, 
there will be no return for it into the world community, he says and 
adds that "what the North considers as its security -- namely 
nuclear weapons - is in reality a burden, and Pyongyang will have to 
come to terms with that." However, it will be important to offer the 
North security in the form of a peace treaty eventually, the 
Ambassador believes. 
 
Palestinian Minister in Vienna 
 
¶4. Ahead of a two day visit to Austria, new Palestinian Foreign 
Minister Ziad Abu Amr has said he believes that Israeli Prime 
Minister Ehud Olmert's positive reaction to the Middle East peace 
plan proposed by the Arab League might just be a maneuver. Abu Amr 
emphasized that the new Arab initiative is the best basis for a 
fair, quick and comprehensive resolution to the conflict. The 
Palestinian Foreign Minister was in Paris on Tuesday before arriving 
in the Austrian capital. 
Ahead of the Palestinian Foreign Minister's visit to Vienna, 
semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung quoted Austrian Foreign Minister 
Ursula Plassnik, who had invited her Palestinian counterpart, as 
saying Ziad Abu Amr enjoys confidence that extends beyond party 
lines and has played an important role in the formation of the unity 
government. Plassnik met with Abu Amr and Information Minister 
Mustafa Barghouti in Gaza and Ramallah during her last visit to the 
Middle East in December 2006. Both Palestinian ministers were 
elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council as independent 
candidates, the daily notes. 
In an analysis, mass-circulation daily Kurier writes that, in 
Vienna, Abu Amr is likely to lobby for support for his government, 
which has been eyed with skepticism by some countries -- after all, 
he represents a coalition government, one half of which - Hamas - is 
still registered as a terrorist organization with the EU. It is 
exactly this division between "good and bad" that Abu Amr intend to 
overcome with his visits to Paris and Vienna.  "How can you pretend 
to support a unity government if you are pushing for its division by 
maintaining contacts with some government members and refusing to 
meet with others," the Kurier quotes the Palestinian Minister. Abu 
Amr, an independent candidate who enjoys the confidence of both 
Hamas and Fatah, is facing the difficult task of getting Hamas to 
adopt the international "rules of the game," while convincing the 
international community of his success with this task, the Kurier 
says, adding that this is probably the only way to end the 
international boycott (of Hamas). 
 
 
London Offers Tehran Direct Talks 
 
¶5. Britain has proposed direct bilateral talks with Iran to try to 
resolve the standoff over Tehran's seizure of 15 British sailors 
last month. A statement from Prime Minister Tony Blair's office said 
he believes both countries want an early resolution of the crisis. 
British officials also spoke with Iran's chief negotiator Ali 
Larijani yesterday, saying they are waiting for a response to their 
proposal. A quick release of the 15 Navy personnel remains doubtful, 
however, according to Austrian media. 
Like all Austrian media commenting on the crisis over Tehran's 
arrest of the 15 British sailors, independent provincial daily 
Salzburger Nachrichten points out that US President Bush has ruled 
out an exchange of five Iranians captured in Iraq with the British 
Navy personnel. There would be no return service for the hostages, 
he said on Tuesday. Meanwhile, ORF online news suggests that Iranian 
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his supporters are profiting in 
several ways from the crisis: Ahmadinejad can turn the issue into a 
question of national pride and thus get an opportunity to criticize 
those Iranian forces willing to compromise for their allegedly 
lenient stance towards the West. In addition, the standoff is a 
welcome diversion from the results of Ahmadinejad's controversial 
economic politics, for which he has come increasingly under fire in 
recent times. Finally, Great Britain, as a former colonial power, is 
a ready target for high-flying emotions, says ORF online news. 
 
 
Pelosi in Syria 
 
¶6. The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Democrat Nancy 
Pelosi, is in Damascus for talks with Syrian President Bashar 
Al-Assad. She is the highest-ranking US politician to visit Syria in 
recent years. Pelosi has emphasized that dialogue with Damascus is 
vital to resolving the Iraq and Lebanon crises. The Bush 
administration, however, has severely criticized her visit as 
undermining US policy. 
ORF radio early morning news Morgenjournal quotes a 
Syrian-Lebanese-born political scientist in the US as stressing in 
connection with Nancy Pelosi's visit to Damascus that in Iraq, "if 
there is to be any kind of resolution that brings any sort of 
stability or balance of power to the region, the Syrian regime and 
its troops would have to part of that coalition." ORF online news 
reports that US President George Bush, however, has accused Pelosi 
of hurting US policy and undermining Washington's efforts to isolate 
Syria. 
 
 
 
Ukraine Crisis Continues 
 
¶7. Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko has refused to withdraw his 
order to dissolve Parliament in talks with Prime Minister Victor 
Yanukovich, who described the order as a "fatal error." He will hold 
meetings today with his government ministers and Western 
ambassadors. Yushchenko, meanwhile, defended his decision, stressing 
the power struggle in the country had required a quick and strong 
response. 
Reporting on current developments in Ukraine, semi-official daily 
Wiener Zeitung publishes an analysis of a "crisis with uncertain 
outcome," and points out the potential scenarios in the Ukrainian 
power struggle. It is uncertain that early elections would turn out 
in Yushchenko's favor, although the President has been pushing for 
that option. An annulment of the presidential decree dissolving 
Parliament or the dismissal by Parliament of President Yushchenko 
are conceivable options as well, according to the Wiener Zeitung. 
Commentator for liberal daily Der Standard Eduard Steiner comments 
that it was "clear the post-revolutionary era in the Ukraine would 
be more difficult than the revolution itself.  Many people bear 
responsibility for the wasted time. The greatest share falls to the 
revolutionaries themselves, who devoured each other in internal 
rivalries and their greed for power. Another problem was the sloppy 
regulations on the authority of individual institutions and probably 
also the EU, which did not provide a context for a new beginning. 
The big players in Ukrainian politics are still relatively young. 
However, the hope that a more pragmatic and future-oriented policy 
will take the place of the current infighting between the 
traditional rivals already rests with a new generation of 
politicians." 
Meanwhile, foreign affairs editor for centrist daily Die Presse 
Christian Ultsch suggests that Ukraine has "an enormous problem with 
its elites. As long as the old divided guard continues to perform 
the old tragicomedy the country will not make any headway. The hero 
of the 'Orange Revolution,' President Victor Yushchenko, who was 
cheered by the West, proved a disappointment. (...) What was 
intended as a liberating strike could now prove detrimental to 
Yushchenko. It would be the last act in the drama of self-inflicted 
damage that the Orange revolutionaries did to themselves. Instead of 
tightening their ranks, the hesitant Yushchenko and the brazen Julia 
Timochenko quarreled until they had opened a window of opportunity 
for Yanukovich to return to power. The Ukraine needs a new 
generation of politicians." 
McCaw