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TAGS: OPRC KPAO AU
 
SUBJECT: AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: April 06, 2007 
 
 
Kdolsky Calls for Limits on Childcare Benefits 
 
¶1. Andrea Kdolsky, Austria's Minister for Health and Family Issues 
from the People's Party has called for adherence to the limit of 
extra income that a person receiving childcare benefit payments 
while on maternity leave can make. She said the payments must be 
returned if a person goes over the limit of extra income. The limit 
is now at 14,600 Euros per year. Kdolsky has announced random probes 
among recipients of childcare benefits during the past year to check 
whether they were above the legal income limit. 
Following Austria's Family Minister Andrea Kdolsky's announcement of 
random probes among recipients of childcare benefits in connection 
with the legal income limits for persons having received such 
payments, Herbert Haupt, former Social Affairs Minister from the 
Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZOe), emphasized he did not 
want the financial assistance returned. He argued there was no way 
to control how much parents had earned, semi-official daily Wiener 
Zeitung says, adding that Heidrun Silhavy of the SPOe was also 
skeptical that Kdolsky's plan would work. According to Kdolsky, said 
twenty percent of those receiving assistance had been caught earning 
extra money when they were investigated. She said there could be 
controls for people who received aid between 2003 and 2006. It would 
cost around 300 million Euros additionally per year if there were no 
controls, she said. The Minister also proposed a new limit of 16,200 
Euros annually with more flexibility all around, and urged her new 
model be given a chance to work. As of now, 60 percent of parents 
receiving aid prefer the old model of 30 plus 6 months (with 436 
Euros per monh), while 40 percent favor the new system of 15 pls 3 
months (800 Euros per month). 
 
 
OeVP Divided over Partnership Issue 
 
¶2. The Conservatives reain divided over legal recognition of 
same-sex prtnerships after annes Missethon, the party's genral 
secretary, suggested a notarized contract fo both homosexual as 
 
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well as heterosexual partnersips. In the face of harsh criticism 
from within he party, Missethon said homosexuality is a realit in 
society and laws must be made realistic.  Family Minister Andrea 
Kdolsky, who is also with the VVP, said on Thursday she stood behind 
Missethon and called for an end to further discrimination against 
homosexuals. 
All Austrian media report on the ongoing discussions on ways to 
legally support same-sex partnerships, an issue which has divided 
the People's Party. Hannes Missethon suggested notarized contracts 
and called for an end to discrimination against same-sex partners in 
housing and inheritance matters, but proposing,  that laws against 
the adoption of children by homosexuals would remain. His move was 
met with harsh criticism by Werner Amon, head of the party's 
employees association OeAAB, who said the security of the family 
must remain in the foreground. Mass-circulation daily Kurier notes 
the current squabble in the OeVP had come shortly ahead of a party 
meeting and reveals more clearly than ever before the failures and 
shortfalls the Conservatives had incurred during their term as 
leading government coalition party. Cetnrist daily die Presse 
meanwhile notes that the opposition parties had "reacted with glee 
to the OeVP dispute: SPOe [sic! - the Presse ranks the OeVP's 
coalition partner among the opposition here] party manager Josef 
Kalina detects 'chaos' within the OeVP, the BZOe has labeled the 
Conservatives the 'quarrel party' while the Greens have said the 
OeVP is simply going too far in some of its views." And FPOe boss 
Heinz Christian Strache commented that the OeVP "has disqualified 
itself as a family-oriented party with its proposals." 
 
 
Ukrainian Premier wants Gusenbauer to Mediate 
 
¶3. In Ukraine, the power struggle between President Viktor 
Yushchenko and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich has deepened. Both 
politicians are refusing to back down over a new election and are 
threatening each other with prosecution. The Prime Minister said at 
a press conference yesterday that he had asked Austria to help 
mediate the crisis after a phone call to Chancellor Alfred 
Gusenbauer. There has been no formal response form Gusenbauer's 
office yet. 
Like all major Austrian media, liberal daily Der Standard reports 
that Ukraine's Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich told journalists 
yesterday that he had asked Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer to 
mediate in his crippling political dispute with President Viktor 
Yushchenko. The daily quotes Yanukowich as explaining that he had 
"decided to call foreign mediators and particularly the Austrian 
Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer - Austria is a neutral country - as 
well as other competent European legal experts." The Standard also 
notes that the Austrian Chancellery has so far declined to comment 
on this highly critical issue. Centrist daily Die Presse writes that 
Gusenbauer, having been catapulted rather unexpectedly into the 
midst of the Ukrainian crisis, could end up caught between the two 
fronts, as President Yushchenko and his supporters do not appear to 
be favoring mediation. The daily quotes Gerhard Mangott of the 
Austrian Institute for International Politics in Vienna, who 
expressed his "surprise" at Yanukovich's move, stressing that the 
Ukrainian Premier does "not have specific ties with Austria." He 
does not believe Austria is going to "expose itself" in the matter: 
"It would be wrong. Austria cannot afford to embark on such 
bilateral missions; this is something that should be channeled 
through the German EU Presidency." 
 
 
 
UN To Publish Climate Report 
 
¶4. The second part of the United Nations' report on climate change 
is expected to be published in Brussels today, dealing with the 
likely consequences of global warming and the impact of climate 
change on human societies. Austrian media note that UN experts and 
scientists have reacted angrily to the insistence of government 
representatives, particularly from the US and China, to water down 
ahead of the report's presentation the wording of some key clauses, 
including prognoses on expected water shortages. 
Although a UN panel is due to publish a key report on the impact of 
global warming later today, ORF online news reports that 
presentation of the full text has been postponed at the last minute 
in the face of pressure from some major countries. Critical clauses 
have been scrapped from the text, including a paragraph on climate 
change in the United States, which was "swept under the carpet" 
because of US pressure, ORF online news writes. Scientists and 
government officials from more than 100 nations held intense 
all-night talks in Brussels on a text expected to give the bleakest 
UN warning yet on the effects of climate change. According to an 
expert quoted on ORF radio early morning news Morgenjournal, cuts of 
more than 60 percent in carbon emissions will be essential by the 
middle of the century. He stressed that "the key thing is to 
understand what is preventable, and beyond that to be wholly and 
strategically, as well as internationally and institutionally, 
focused on avoiding on what can still be avoided." Developments are 
"potentially going to overwhelm us, it carries on like it has over 
the last ten years." The UN report also paints a grim picture 
regarding the shrinking of glaciers, which will affect Austria in 
particular, ORF radio notes. 
 
 
Probe into Navy Crew Capture 
 
¶5. British Prime Minister Tony Blair insisted that no deal was 
struck and no agreement reached with Iran for the release of 15 
British Navy personnel, who returned home yesterday after their 
thirteen-day detention in Tehran. However, Blair adds, it would be 
sensible to pursue lines of communication which had been opened up 
with the Iranian government. 
All major Austrian media continue to comment on release of the 
British sailors from Iranian detention. 
Senior columnist for mass-circulation tabloid Kronen Zeitung Ernst 
Trost argues that the "show around the release of the 15 British 
soldiers masks the weakening of (Ahmadinejad's) own position. He is 
big on words, but the masses who voted for him were bitterly 
disappointed. So far, they have been waiting in vain for the better 
life he promised. (...) The President needs threat scenarios like 
the conflict about the nuclear program in order to divert attention 
from the internal difficulties and rally the people behind him in 
national solidarity." 
In mass-circulation provincial daily Kleine Zeitung, foreign affairs 
writer Erhard Hutter suggests that Blair's "warning to Iran about 
the incalculable political costs of an unyielding attitude had an 
effect at least in the moderate leadership circles of the country. 
In the end, the pragmatists in Teheran kept the upper hand." 
Foreign affairs editor for centrist daily Die Presse Christian 
Ultsch suggests the "abrupt end of the affair can be explained by 
one of two possibilities:  Either the relatively moderate forces 
prevailed in the internal Iranian struggle for power or there was a 
deal with the West - or perhaps both. (...) Still more exciting is 
another explanatory model:  Those forces that strive to consolidate 
the regional power gain of the past years prevailed in Iran. If 
Teheran maneuvers itself further into isolation, the advantage that 
the US-induced toppling of the Taliban in Afghanistan and Saddam 
Hussein in Iraq has brought for Iran could melt away like butter in 
the sun." 
 
 
Harsh Criticism of Pelosi Trip 
 
¶6. The Bush administration has stepped up its criticism of 
Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi in 
the wake of her recent Middle East trip. Vice-President Cheney 
accused Pelosi of what he called "bad behavior" for telling the 
Syrians that Israel was prepared to enter peace negotiations. This 
prompted Israel to say its neighbor must first abandon support for 
terrorist groups. 
Semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung quotes Pelosi as explaining after 
her meeting with the Syrian President that Bashar Al-Assad has 
underscored his wish for peace with Israel. She had been "extremely 
pleased with the President's assurance that he was prepared to 
re-launch the peace process," Pelosi said. However, according to the 
daily, after the media floated reports about an Israeli offer of 
peace talks with Syria, Premier Ehud Olmert immediately denied it, 
stressing that for Israel Syria remains part of the "axis of evil." 
 
McCaw