VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHVI #2099/01 2211304
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 091304Z AUG 07
FM AMEMBASSY VIENNA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8289
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/WHITEHOUSE WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS VIENNA 002099 
 
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: August 9, 2007 
 
 
Key Day in Bawag Trial 
 
¶1. Austrian media expect Thursday will be another important day in 
the bank Bawag trial currently underway in Vienna. Presiding Judge 
Claudia Bandion-Ortner has announced she intends to shed light on 
details of the "management agreement" between the Bawag and 
investment banker Wolfgang Floettl, whose disastrous currency 
speculations lost the bank millions of Euros. 
Like all Austrian media reporting on the bank Bawag trial, 
semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung points to the "massive 
accusations" raised against defendant and former bank CEO Helmut 
Elsner: Some of his colleagues from the bank's management board are 
claiming that Elsner had "deceived" them with regard to the actual 
value of investment banker Wolfgang Floettl's collection of 
paintings, which were sold in an attempt to pay off the Bawag's 
debts from failed currency speculations. Elsner is now believed to 
have represented the paintings above value in discussions with the 
management board, in order to gloss over the losses incurred in the 
bank's so-called Caribbean deals, the Wiener Zeitung says. 
 
 
Cabinet Discusses Tax Reform 
 
¶2. At the traditional special cabinet meeting during summer recess, 
the government coalition partners SPOe and OeVP seem to have agreed 
on not bringing forward tax reform, but to implement such measures 
in 2010, as initially planned. Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer from the 
Social Democrats underscored that "this government's motto is to 
save money and invest in the future." The Chancellor also said he 
wants to exploit the current economic boom to reduce the country's 
budget deficit. 
Liberal daily Der Standard, reporting like all Austrian media on 
yesterday's special cabinet meeting, quotes Chancellor Alfred 
Gusenbauer as stressing that regarding tax reform, reducing the 
budget deficit was more important than cutting taxes. Therefore, the 
next round of tax reform would not occur before 2010. The daily 
comments that with this statement, the Social Democrats have 
departed for good from their election campaign promise to implement 
tax cuts for medium income earners as quickly as possible. 
 
 
Opposition to Kdolsky's Child Benefit Policy 
 
¶3. Minister for Health and Family Issues Andrea Kdolsky from the 
OeVP is meeting with stiff opposition to her policy demanding 
Austrians must pay back the child benefit payments they received, if 
the parents in question were above the legally permitted additional 
income limit. 
Reporting on the dispute that has arisen over the question of 
whether parents who were above the additional income limit while 
receiving child benefit payments should be made to pay back the 
money, mass-circulation tabloid Kronen Zeitung runs the front-page 
headline "Revolt against Minister Kdolsky." The daily says that 
several provincial health insurance providers, including those in 
Salzburg, Tyrol and Upper Austria, have rejected Kdolsky's strategy 
to call on parents to return the money, saying such measures were 
"unfair." The head of Salzburg province's health insurance company 
Siegfried Schluckner underscored that "you simply can't do that to 
young mothers," the Kronen Zeitung quotes. 
 
 
US Consulate to Collect 10 Fingerprints from Visa Applicants 
 
¶4. According to an Austrian Press Agency report, the US Consulate in 
Vienna will begin collecting ten fingerprints from all immigrant and 
non-immigrant visa applicants as of August 9, 2007. The change from 
two-fingerprint to ten-fingerprint scans does not apply to Visa 
Waiver Program travelers, who will go through the ten-fingerprint 
process upon entering the United States. Only those applying for 
visas will go through the process at the US Consulate in Vienna. 
Austrian Press Agency APA on August 8 published a PAS-organized 
press release explaining that the US Consulate in Vienna will begin 
collecting ten fingerprints from all immigrant and non-immigrant 
visa applicants on August 9, 2007. This "technology is more accurate 
and produces fewer 'false positive' matches," according to the 
release. However, there is "no change in the requirements regarding 
those who must provide fingerprints during interviews conducted at 
the Consulate. Applicants for diplomatic or official visa classes, 
and applicants under 14 or over 79 years of age, are exempt from the 
fingerprint requirement." The new process only applies to persons 
applying for visas at US consulates, while Visa Waiver Program 
travelers, including those from Austria, will go through the 
ten-fingerprint process upon entering the United States. APA also 
quotes from the release that the United States is "committed to the 
concept of 'secure borders and open doors' by facilitating travel of 
international visitors to the US in a manner that is safe and 
secure. 
Meanwhile, both liberal daily Der Standard and mass-circulation 
daily Kurier report that the EU is contemplating a tightening of its 
own immigration requirements. The move, according to the Kurier, is 
in response to US plans to introduce additional requirement for 
travelers to the United States. As of next year, Washington wants to 
introduce an electronic immigration permit for visitors from EU 
member states: The measure would require travelers to register 
online and fill out an internet form at least 48 hours prior to 
their departure for the US, the Kurier explains, and adds that 
Congress has already passed the respective law. The daily goes on to 
report that EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini has informed US 
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that the European Union 
could - as a countermeasure - introduce similar online registration 
requirements for US visitors to the EU. 
 
 
Ambassador at Beach Volleyball Event 
 
¶5. An Austrian mass-circulation weekly briefly notes that US 
Ambassador to Austria Susan McCaw and her family attended the A1 
Beach Volleyball Grand Slam. The event was staged in Klagenfurt, 
Carinthia, earlier this month, says mass-circulation weekly News on 
August 9. 
 
 
No Extradition of Former Kazak Ambassador 
 
¶6. Authorities in Austria have ruled against the extradition of 
Rakhat Alijev, a political rival of the President of Kazakhstan, 
arguing he would not get a fair trial in his home country. Alijev, 
who is wanted in Kazakhstan on kidnapping charges, was the previous 
Khazak Ambassador to Austria and the former son-in-law of Kazak 
President Nasarbajev. Alijev denies any wrongdoing, and insists the 
charges against him are politically motivated, ORF TV's prime time 
news Zeit im Bild I reported on Wednesday. 
 
 
Pakistan Considering Emergency Rule 
 
¶7. Pakistan's government is reportedly considering the imposition of 
emergency rule. President Pervez Musharraf is expected to make a 
decision today at a meeting of senior government representatives. 
Musharraf is under political pressure after the siege earlier this 
year of a major Islamabad mosque occupied by radical Islamists, and 
protests by lawyers over the sacking of Pakistan's Chief Justice. 
According to the country's Information Minister, Pakistan is facing 
"internal and external threats, which could justify such a move," 
according to ORF online news. 
 
 
US Air Strike in Baghdad 
 
¶8. The US military says its forces have killed about 30 militants in 
an air strike in Baghdad. According to the military, most of them 
died during a raid in the capital's poor Shiite district of Sadr 
City yesterday. In addition, twelve people were also detained in the 
operation. The move came only a day ahead of an important Shiite 
holiday in Iraq. Austrian media quote the US military as saying the 
militants were terrorists and part of a network smuggling weapons 
from Iran, says liberal daily Der Standard. 
Kilner