VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHVI #0220/01 0461047
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 151047Z FEB 08
FM AMEMBASSY VIENNA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 9484

UNCLAS VIENNA 000220 
 
SIPDIS 
 
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E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL AU
 
SUBJECT: CORRUPTION CHARGES STRAIN AUSTRIA'S VOLATILE COALITION 
 
 
Summary 
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¶1. (SBU)  Austria's volatile coalition of Social Democrats (SPO) and 
Conservatives (OVP) has plunged into another crisis of confidence 
following corruption charges by a fired top police official against 
senior aides of former OVP interior ministers. While the public 
prosecutor is looking into allegations of obfuscation and abuse of 
office inside the OVP-held Interior Ministry, the Social Democrats, 
joined by the three opposition parties, have called for a 
parliamentary investigating committee. The OVP announced it would 
consider SPO support for such a panel no less than a "declaration of 
war." This latest spat between the two reluctant partners has 
triggered renewed speculation about a coalition break up. For now, 
observers believe the two parties, both of which have scored poorly 
in recent voter approval polls, will hold out.  However, the affair 
has paralyzed the coalition and confirmed public perceptions that 
its reform momentum has evaporated after little more than a year in 
power. End summary. 
 
Top Cop Blows Whistle 
--------------------- 
¶2. (SBU) The controversy was triggered by Herwig Haidinger, the 
recently ousted director of Austria's Federal Crime Investigation 
Bureau (BKA), who last week accused senior officials in the OVP-held 
Interior Ministry of efforts to use the Bureau for political 
purposes. Specifically, Haidinger indicated that Natascha Kampusch, 
abducted in 1998 and held for over eight years, might have been 
released shortly after being kidnapped if police investigators had 
not ignored a tip in April 1998 from a local policeman that pointed 
to her kidnapper. He also alleged that Interior Ministry officials 
refused to look into the accusation once Kampusch reappeared, so as 
to avoid a scandal in the run-up to parliamentary elections that 
fall. 
 
¶3. (SBU)  In addition, Haidinger alleged that a former, senior 
Interior Ministry aide had pressed him to provide confidential 
information about an SPO-affiliated banking scandal to OVP 
parliamentarians in an effort to compromise the Social Democrats. 
Moreover, Haidinger alleged that top OVP ministry aides had ordered 
police investigators to collect discrediting information against a 
lawyer defending a prominent Kosovo-born asylum applicant against 
deportation. More lurid accusations by the ousted BKA chief focus on 
a top Interior Ministry aide who stands accused of using his 
Ministry credit card in a Vienna sex bar, harassing female 
secretaries in the Ministry, and asking police to cover up a drunk 
 
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driving incident in which he was involved. 
 
Reactions 
--------- 
¶4. (SBU) The allegations by Haidinger have infuriated the coalition 
partner SPO as well as the opposition Greens, FPO and BZO. The 
opposition parties called for the establishment of an ad-hoc 
investigating committee in parliament to look into the charges 
against OVP Ministry officials and assess political accountability. 
While the SPO initially took a wait-and-see position as it weighed 
possible further damage to the (already soured) coalition chemistry, 
provincial SPO leaders have left no doubt they want to see such a 
panel.  SPO votes would be required to secure the 91 votes needed to 
establish a parliamentary investigation. 
 
¶5. (SBU) In reaction, the OVP has warned the Social Democrats that 
complicity with the opposition parties in establishing a 
parliamentary investigating panel would "formally constitute a 
breach of the coalition pact," or, as one OVP backbencher put it, be 
"a declaration of war." In a forward defense by the OVP, deputy OVP 
whip Guenter Stummvoll indicated February 12 that the OVP could 
likewise "reveal compromising material" about Interior Ministry 
shenanigans dating back to before 2000, when the Ministry was still 
led by the SPO. The opposition parties competed for outrage over the 
affair. The Greens called it "a scandal exclusively attributable to 
the OVP," the FPO spoke of a "pig sty in the Interior Ministry," 
while the BZO likened the Ministry actions to "Stasi methods." 
 
¶6. (SBU) In view of intense public and political outrage, OVP 
Interior Minister Platter moved to set up a commission of experts 
from within and outside his ministry to look into the charges. At 
the same time, the public prosecutor has initiated investigations 
into the matter. Politically, the SPO will take Platter to task in a 
session of the Upper House February 14. Moreover, parties in 
parliament agreed February 13 to schedule an extraordinary session 
of parliament's Domestic Security Committee for late February to 
discuss the affair. Still, the SPO has left no doubt that, should 
answers expected from Platter and the OVP in general remain 
unsatisfactory, it would join the opposition parties in setting up 
the much disputed investigation committee.  Chancellor Gusenbauer's 
willingness to postpone a decision has reportedly led to outrage in 
SPO provincial organizations, which had already been unhappy with 
the Chancellor's past concessions to the OVP. 
 
Comment 
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¶7. (SBU)  The SPO has various reasons for wanting to see its 
coalition partner embarrassed.  First, the SPO, which held the 
Interior Ministry from 1945 until 2000, sees a chance to take 
revenge on the OVP for the massive ouster of top, SPO-leaning 
Ministry officials after the OVP assumed charge in 2000. Second, the 
accusations against the OVP serve as a welcome opportunity to make 
up for a series of OVP-inflicted political humiliations since the 
reluctant SPO-OVP coalition took office in 2007. Third, the Social 
Democrats may use this finger-pointing at the OVP to deflect 
attention from their own sagging popularity lately. This poor public 
image is attributed to some degree to the SPO's clumsy political 
salesmanship, but even more to Chancellor Gusenbauer's lack of 
leadership and charisma. With all eyes on the OVP, the SPO no doubt 
would like to regain some political respectability from this scandal 
at the expense of its junior coalition partner. 
 
¶8. (SBU) The scandal has reinforced the perception of the GOA as a 
coalition of the unwilling.  Nevertheless, political pundits believe 
that, for now, both parties would only stand to lose from early 
elections.  The two parties' (and their leaders') poor public image, 
as well as the lack of attractive alternative coalition partners, 
may force the coalition to hang on for now. 
 
Kilner