VZCZCXYZ0008
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHVI #1914/01 2001015
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 191015Z JUL 07
FM AMEMBASSY VIENNA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8068
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/WHITEHOUSE WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS VIENNA 001914 
 
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 KPAO AU
 
SUBJECT: AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: July 18, 2007 
 
 
Bawag Trial to Focus on Billion-Euro Losses 
 
¶1. On the third day of the bank Bawag trial, presiding judge Claudia 
Bandion-Ortner is expected to question the defendants on how the 
formerly union-owned bank incurred the vast losses of about 1.4 
billion Euros between 1998 and 2000. Yesterday, all nine former bank 
officials, including ex-CEO Helmut Elsner and investment banker 
Helmut Floettl, pleaded "not guilty" to charges of fraud and false 
accounting. 
Like all Austrian media, mass-circulation tabloid Kronen Zeitung 
reports on the bank Bawag trial underway in Vienna, and suggests 
that defendant and former bank CEO Helmut Elsner "for the first time 
showed a trace of self-criticism." In his first statement in court 
he admitted to having made "a few wrong decisions," and 
simultaneously tried to stand up for his co-defendants. He was 
"absolutely certain" that the entire management, the board of 
directors' president and the accountant always acted in the interest 
of the bank at given moments in time." 
 
 
Gusenbauer on Residence Rights 
 
¶2. Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer from the SPOe said 
yesterday that immigrants, who have been living in Austria legally 
for more than ten years and who are well integrated, should be 
granted residence rights. His comments are in sharp contrast to the 
views held by Interior Minister Platter from the OeVP, who is 
pushing for a tougher approach on the issue. 
Speaking in Bregenz, Vorarlberg, yesterday, Alfred Gusenbauer said 
that the SPOe's position on immigration was clear: "Before admitting 
new people into the country, you should allow those to stay who are 
already integrated," ORF online news quotes the Chancellor. "You 
need a more humane approach," Gusenbauer stressed, and suggested 
that immigrants, who have been living legally in Austria for a long 
time and have "observed our laws, should have the right to stay." 
The Chancellor also proposed that Interior Minister Platter should 
first consider cases of immigrants who have lived in Austria for 
more than ten years. It was also necessary to look at whether a 
solution can be found that is compatible with the Interior 
Minister's portfolio, otherwise, the law on immigration and alien 
rights would have to be changed, according to Gusenbauer. 
 
 
Libya: Death Sentences Commuted 
 
¶3. The death sentences on five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian 
doctor convicted of infecting Libyan children with HIV/AIDS have 
been commuted to life in prison by Libya's High Judicial Council. 
The ruling came after the families of the 438 children agreed to a 
compensation deal. Welcoming the move, EU Foreign Relations 
Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said she was "relieved about the 
decision." She also emphasised that she "now expects steps will be 
taken to initiate the process of transferring the six medics to 
Bulgaria." 
Liberal daily Der Standard says that by converting the death 
sentences into life imprisonment, with terms to be served in the 
medics' home country Bulgaria, Libya is trying to resolve the 
crisis. Bulgaria and the European Union are meanwhile pushing for 
the nurses and doctor's extradition to Bulgaria. Similarly, State 
Department spokesperson Sean McCormack underscored that the Libyan 
government must find a way to return the medical personnel to their 
home country, ORF online news quotes. 
 
 
North Korea Has Shut Down Reactor 
 
¶4. North Korea has shut down all five nuclear facilities at its 
Yongbyon reactor complex, according to IAEA Director General Mohamed 
ElBaradei. Pyongyang shut down the only working reactor at Yongbyon 
on Saturday. As negotiators are gathering in Beijing for a new round 
of six nation talks, US envoy Christopher Hill has said concerns 
about possible secret uranium enrichment activities in North Korea 
are an ongoing issue, says centrist daily Die Presse. 
 
 
Lukewarm Response to Mideast Initiative 
 
¶5. The new initiative put forward by US President George Bush for a 
Middle East peace conference later this year has been met with 
skepticism. According to experts, the planned meeting on working 
towards resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is "simply too 
little, too late." James Zogby, head of the Arab American Institute, 
argues that both Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli 
Premier Ehud Olmert are now too weak politically, and that the 
United States "should have acted when Abbas was newly elected, and 
still had the support of the majority of Palestinians." 
In an analysis of the situation in the Middle East, semi-official 
daily Wiener Zeitung suggests that the "weakened Palestinian 
President Mahmoud Abbas has become the West's great white hope." It 
is a "tightrope walk for Abbas and his Fatah movement: They need to 
convince the Palestinians in Gaza that they can do better than the 
Hamas-led government, which in the past year and a half merely 
succeeded to completely isolate the Palestinians. At the same time, 
Abbas must avoid the impression of being dependent on the West. 
Here's where the US President apparently comes in with his plan for 
a Middle East conference and his push to get moderate Arab states 
like Jordan and Egypt on board. But the only chance for the moderate 
forces to prevail is if a solution emerges in the 
Israeli-Palestinian conflict that has the support of a united and 
broad front. Such a solution, however, is still a long way off." 
 
 
US President Contradicts Intelligence Services On Al Qaeda 
 
¶6. US President George Bush has indirectly contradicted the recent 
US intelligence analyses warning that al Qaeda has recovered its 
strength. "Al Qaeda is strong today, but not nearly as strong as 
before the September 11 attacks," President Bush told UN Secretary 
General Ban Ki Moon. The US President added that the terrorist 
organization would be even stronger today if the United States and 
its allies had not "stayed on the offensive" and kept putting 
pressure on al Qaeda, according to ORF online news. 
McCaw