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P 091234Z JUL 07
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UNCLAS VIENNA 001817 
 
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SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/AGS, INR/EU, AND EUR/PPD FOR YVETTE SAINT-ANDRE 
 
OSD FOR COMMANDER CHAFFEE 
 
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E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KPAO AU
 
SUBJECT: AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: July 09, 2007 
 
 
Alien And Immigration Laws To Be Toppled? 
 
¶1. The Interior Ministry's Human Rights Advisory Board has come to 
the conclusion that the Austrian immigration and alien laws need to 
be amended, as they are not in compliance with the EU's Human Rights 
Convention. Because the Convention is part of the Austrian 
Constitution, the Advisory Board has ruled Austria's alien and 
immigration legislation unconstitutional. 
All major Austrian media report on a ruling by the Interior 
Ministry's Human Rights Advisory Board declaring part of the 
Austrian alien and immigration laws unconstitutional in a report 
published on Monday. A task force for the Advisory Board, which was 
looking into the execution of the country's immigration laws, has 
found the legislation "severely deficient," ORF radio early morning 
news Morgenjournal says. Particularly, the law "does not give the 
authorities working on asylum and immigration cases sufficient 
opportunity to fully take into account Article 8 of the European 
Human Rights Convention," which protects people's personal and 
family lives, the Advisory Board concluded. In its report for the 
Interior Minister, the Advisory Board therefore recommends that the 
execution of alien and immigration laws be amended, and calls on the 
minister to make sure the authorities concerned strictly observe the 
laws. 
 
 
Experts on Coalition Government 
 
¶2. Austrian political analysts rate as "rather poor" the performance 
so far of the SPOe-OeVP grand coalition. Since the formation of the 
government half a year ago, cooperation between the country's two 
major parties has largely been marked by conflicts, disputes and 
communication problems, with few actual results to show for, the 
group of experts including Peter Filzmaier and Anton Pelinka says. 
ORF online news publishes an assessment by Austrian political 
analysts of the SPOe-OeVP government. According to Peter Filzmaier, 
the coalition partners have been "blocking each other," particularly 
on issues such as the debate over the Eurofighter deal. 
Communication between the Social Democrats and the People's Party 
was seriously impaired, given that they had only agreed to "forced 
cooperation" in a coalition government because the result of the 
2006 general elections presented no other viable option. As a 
result, the government had so far largely come up with provisional 
results rather than presenting actual political solutions. Likewise, 
political analyst Peter Pelinka, stressing that he had hoped for 
serious discussions of Austria's immigration, defense and EU 
policies, complained that instead of addressing these key issues, 
the coalition with its internal squabbles was playing the role of 
government and opposition at the same time. 
 
 
Banking Committee: Call For Reforms 
 
¶3. The chairman of the parliamentary investigative committee looking 
into banking practices in the wake of the scandal involving former 
union-owned bank Bawag called for reforms to ensure better oversight 
of banks and financial markets. Martin Graf of the Freedom Party 
presented his recommendations to Parliament last week, after parties 
were unable to agree on a final written report. 
Reporting on the recommendations presented to Parliament by the 
investigative committee looking into Austrian banking practices, 
semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung says that the chairman of the 
committee, Martin Graf of the FPOe, urged that the Financial Market 
Control Board should be reformed and limited to five persons with 
terms rotating every three years. This caused a strong debate in 
Parliament's plenary session last week, the daily adds. Graf also 
accused the government parties, the Social Democrats and the 
People's Party, of ending the parliamentary inquiry before its work 
was concluded. He said this was the first time in post-WWII Austria 
that a parliamentary investigation had ended without a written 
report being submitted and voted on by the parties represented in 
Parliament. The committee had been looking into major losses at 
banks Bawag and Hypo Alpe Adria, along with the financial services 
group AMIS. 
 
 
Cleaning Up a Graveyard 
 
¶4. Austrian media report that several US marines and a group of US 
Embassy Vienna employees started cleaning a historic Jewish cemetery 
in Vienna's 18th district Waehring on Sunday. 
"Development aid made in the US," headlines liberal daily Der 
Standard, reporting on the efforts last Sunday by a group of US 
marines and US Embassy employees to clean up a historic Jewish 
cemetery in Vienna. Bringing their own tools, the volunteers cleaned 
weeds and shrubs and cleared walking paths at the run-down site. 
Efforts to have the Waehring cemetery cleaned and renovated have 
been going on for years, but as a result of virtually non-existent 
political decision-making power, the site remained in a state of 
continual disrepair, the daily explains. This also turned out to be 
major setback for Austrian historian Tina Walzer, who had been 
commissioned by the fund Zukunftsfonds to catalogue the 7,000 
graves. Shocked about the poor condition of the historic graveyard, 
a US diplomat recently promised he would "send in the boys." In the 
end, not only the marines turned up, but also a group of embassy 
representatives, the daily notes. Likewise, mass-circulation daily 
Kurier reports on the US marines' "clearing mission," pointing out 
that the City of Vienna's earlier promises to restore the site had 
been no more than "lip service." The daily also quotes the American 
volunteers as underscoring they had no intention whatsoever to 
embarrass Vienna with their activity, they "only wanted to help 
out." In a commentary in liberal daily Der Standard, Michael Simoner 
argues that the "political delaying tactics has now culminated in 
the disgraceful situation where US marines stationed in Austria and 
American diplomats began on Sunday to clear the jungle the Jewish 
cemetery in Vienna's 18th district has meanwhile become." He adds 
that "where there is a will, there is a way. And the Austrian 
Republic feels the political slap in the face. Let's see whether 
there will be any words of thanks for the Americans." 
 
 
Ambassador McCaw Ends Her Assignment 
 
¶5. Like all media, a leading Austrian weekly reported that US 
Ambassador to Austria Susan McCaw will end her assignment "for 
personal reasons" toward the end of this year. The Ambassador 
described her time in Austria as one of the "most remarkable and 
rewarding experiences" of her life, independent political weekly 
Profil says in its July 9 issue. 
 
 
Islamabad Mosque Siege Continues 
 
¶6. The siege at the Red Mosque in the Pakistani capital Islamabad 
has entered another week with no sign of resolution. Pakistan's 
Minister for Religious Affairs said that radical Islamists were 
holding women and children hostage inside the mosque complex. The 
mosque's leader, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, threatened that he and his 
followers would commit suicide rather than surrender. The Pakistani 
military has meanwhile apparently decided to delay a planned 
storming of the mosque. 
Like all Austrian media, independent provincial daily Salzburger 
Nachrichten reports on the "war of nerves" in the standoff between 
Pakistani security forces and radical Islamists at the Red Mosque in 
Islamabad. Concern is growing that the crisis could end in a 
bloodbath with potentially disastrous consequences, as hundreds of 
women and children are still said to be held hostage in the 
compound. The Pakistani government has therefore refrained from 
storming the mosque up to now, the daily explains. Meanwhile, a 
high-ranking representative of the Pakistani Interior Ministry has 
warned that the authorities are running out of time, given the risk 
of Red Mosque followers launching similar actions elsewhere in the 
country. That is why the conflict has also triggered a massive 
propaganda war, which is being waged alongside the "battle over the 
Red Mosque," the Salzburger Nachrichten states. 
 
 
Livni, Fayyad Meet for Talks 
 
¶7. Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni met with Palestinian Prime 
Minister Salam Fayyad for the first time since the new Fatah-led 
government was appointed last month. Austrian media say the meeting 
in Jerusalem is a sign of improving relations between Israel and the 
new Palestinian government. A spokesperson for Israeli Prime 
Minister Ehud Olmert explained that Israel sees the new Palestinian 
government as "an opportunity." 
ORF radio early morning news Morgenjournal, reporting on the meeting 
between Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Palestinian Premier 
Salam Fayyad, says that a spokesperson for the Israeli Minister 
welcomed the discussion. The new Palestinian leadership was a 
"government which clearly has accepted the international principles 
- not only the recognition of Israel, but especially the renouncing 
of terrorism and the idea of a two-state solution." A Palestinian 
minister meanwhile replied that while relations are improving, the 
situation of the Palestinian people also needed to get better, which 
until now had failed to happen. Palestinians were now waiting for 
the Israeli goodwill to show tangible results, the minister added. 
ORF radio also says that in another move aimed at supporting the 
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, an Arab League delegation will 
visit Israel this week. It is the first visit to Israel by Arab 
League representatives. 
McCaw