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TAGS: OPRC KPAO AU
 
SUBJECT: AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: March 04, 2008 
 
 
Governing Parties in Free-Fall, Polls Say 
 
¶1. The two governing parties, the OeVP and the SPOe, are in free 
fall in the wake of new allegations of political scandals and 
continued failure to agree on important issues, the most recent 
polls have revealed. The latest Gallup poll gives the OeVP 31 
percent and the SPOe 29 percent of support. Support for the 
opposition Greens has meanwhile increased to 17 percent, for the 
FPOe to 15 percent, and for the FPOe spin-off BZOe to five percent. 
Nonetheless, only 31 percent of Austrians want an early general 
election, with 58 percent opposed to one. 
Polls show Austria's two main political parties, the OeVP and the 
SPOe, have experienced a dramatic decline in voters' support in 
recent months, semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung reports. The daily 
quotes political scientist Anton Pelinka, who claims both parties 
want an early election, but only on condition that the other take 
the blame for the collapse of the government coalition. Despite the 
governing parties' plummeting popularity, a grand coalition between 
them continues to be Austrians' preferred arrangement, with 29 
percent supporting it, a Gallup poll revealed. Thirteen percent of 
Austrians prefer a SPOe-Greens government, and only five percent 
would want a return to the OeVP-FPOe alliance. Meanwhile, 
mass-circulation tabloid Oesterreich believes only Austrian 
President Heinz Fischer can still help resolve the colation 
struggle. Claus Raidl, CEO of Boehler-Uddeholm and erstwhile advisor 
of former Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel has called on the President 
to intervene in the government crisis and issue an ultimatum to the 
coalition partners. Should the two parties fail to return to 
cooperating on the most pressing political issues within the next 
three weeks, Fischer should dissolve the government in order to 
prevent the country from continuing paralysis. 
 
 
Parliament Gives Green Light to Investigating Committee 
 
¶2. Votng against the People's Party MPs, the Austrian Paliament 
Monday approved the creation of a specia parliamentary 
investigating committee to look ino the alegations of abuse of 
office involving OVP ministers and top officials at the Interior 
Mnistry. Rejecting an appeal from its coalition parner OeVP, the 
Social Democrats backed the motionfor setting up such an inquiry 
tabled b the opposition parties, the Greens, the BZOe and the FPOe. 
The move has made the committee a certainty, Austrian media say, and 
suggest it has put a further strain on the SPOe-OeVP coalition. In 
addition to the Interior Ministry, the Ministries of Justice, 
Finance and Foreign Affairs will also be scrutinized by the 
parliamentary committee. 
ORF radio early morning news Morgenjournal explains that the 
parliamentary investigating committee set up yesterday to look into 
allegations of abuse of office will examine 32 separate issues, 
including alleged payments from the formerly union-owned bank BAWAG 
to the Social Democrats and the recent convictions of Austrian staff 
in a number of embassies on charges of improperly issuing visas. 
Mass-circulation tabloid Kronen Zeitung writes about an "exchange of 
verbal blows" in Parliament ahead of the vote to create the 
committee yesterday, which also saw "an unusual alliance of the 
SPOe, the Greens, the FPOe and the BZOe."  Similarly, semi-official 
daily Wiener Zeitung headlines: "Investigating committee a given: 
Everyone against the OeVP." Speaking in Parliament yesterday, 
Interior Minister Guenther Platter, whose ministry has come under 
fire most for allegations of abuse of office in recent years, 
complained about what he described as an "unholy alliance of the 
opposition and the SPOe," which only had "defamatory objectives," 
according to the Wiener Zeitung. 
 
 
Burqa-Clad Defendant Excluded From Terror Trial 
 
¶3. Mona S., one of the defendants in a terrorism trial currently 
underway in Vienna, has been excluded from proceedings after she 
refused to remove her burqa in court. The trial judge at the 
beginning of proceedings ruled that the court would be unable to 
properly assess the defendant's statements because she insisted on 
wearing the full length veil. The woman and her husband, Mohamed M., 
are being tried on terrorism charges in connection with a video 
broadcast last March threatening Austria with terrorist attacks if 
it didn't withdraw troops from Afghanistan. State prosecutors have 
charged Mohamed M., the main suspect, with connections to terrorist 
groups, including al Qaeda, and Mona S. is accused of translating a 
document in relation to the video. The defendants have pleaded not 
guilty and denied any involvement in the production of the video. 
"Hillary Clinton: Last Exit Ohio?" 
 
¶4. ... asks one Austrian daily, reporting that Democratic and 
Republican primaries are being held in four US states today. The 
main focus is on the polls in Ohio and Texas, where the results for 
the Democratic rivals Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton could be 
decisive. Analysts meanwhile say Clinton has to win both primaries 
to keep her chances of winning the nomination intact. Austrian radio 
suggests the "Texas and Ohio primaries could bring about a decision 
on the Democratic candidate. For Clinton, the vote is likely to 
determine her political survival." If she loses, "mounting pressure 
within the Democratic Party could force her to throw in the towel." 
Among the Republicans, John McCain is expected to be confirmed as 
his party's presidential candidate. 
All Austrian media have renewed their focus on the US primaries, and 
agree for the Democrats the votes in Texas and Ohio could well 
result in determining whether Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama will 
emerge as their party's candidate. Almost all media argue it may 
come down to Texas and Ohio with regard to the future of Clinton's 
political ambitions, with semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung 
headlining "Clinton's survival struggle in Texas." The former First 
Lady is under "enormous pressure to win," as polls are predicting a 
neck-and-neck race between the two Democratic rivals. Likewise, 
mass-circulation tabloid Kronen Zeitung says Texas will "decide 
whether Clinton stays in the race." It is "high noon in the cowboy 
state," according to the newspaper. "A day of decisions," reads the 
headline in independent provincial daily Salzburger Nachrichten. 
Analyzing the Democratic race for the White House, the daily says: 
"In principle, the former First Lady should be able to win, both in 
Texas and Ohio, as well as in tiny Rhode Island, which is basically 
Hillary's New York back yard. But the polls suggest chances she 
might be beaten by Barack Obama are quite real. A victory -- no 
matter how narrow -- either in Texas, or in Ohio, would suffice for 
Obama, the Democratic Party's new superstar, to secure his 
nomination once and for all." Washington correspondent for centrist 
daily Die Presse Norbert Rief agrees: Today's primaries are "D-Day 
for Hillary Clinton." Losing both states would "axe her candidacy." 
And according to Rief, "at least where Texas is concerned, it does 
not look like she's going to win. All polls see Obama ahead of her, 
and besides, he has won the last ten primaries in a row." Meanwhile, 
the "Republicans, too, seem to expect their candidate, John McCain, 
will be running against Obama. Lately, McCain has repeatedly 
attacked the Democratic presidential hopeful, accusing him of 
ignorance." Meanwhile, ORF radio early morning news Morgenjournal 
quotes Paul Glastris, chief editor of the Washington monthly 
magazine, who says the primaries have already shown sharp change in 
the political climate in the US: "If you look at the candidates who 
have made it so far you see that the political debate has shifted 
rather dramatically to the left. John McCain on key issues was far 
more moderate than all the other Republican candidates. The person 
leading on the Democratic side right now is Barack Obama who is more 
liberal on most measures than Hillary Clinton," Glastris argues. 
 
 
 
 
 
Rice Calls for New Mideast Peace Effort 
 
¶5. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is beginning a visit to 
the Middle East, and has called for new efforts for a peace deal 
between the Palestinians and Israel. Austrian media quote the 
Seretary of State as stressing ahead of her trip sheis confident a 
peace accord between Israel and th Palestinians can be concluded 
this year. Her viit comes shortly after Palestinian President 
Mahmoud Abbas broke off peace talks in protest at Israel's recent 
military offensive in the Gaza Strip, which has left dead more than 
100 Palestinians. Israel has meanwhile warned of new action, unless 
Palestinians put a stop to rocket attacks from Gaza, according to 
ORF online news. 
 
 
UNSC Votes for New Iran Sanctions 
 
¶6. The United Nations Security Council has voted overwhelmingly in 
favor of new sanctions against Iran because of the country's nuclear 
ambitions. The third round of sanctions includes asset freezes and 
travel bans for Iranian officials, and also bans the sale to Iran of 
so-called dual-use items, which can have either a military or 
civilian purpose. Tehran meanwhile continues to say suspicions it is 
trying to develop nuclear weapons are unfounded. 
Reporting on the United Nations Security Council's vote in favor of 
new sanctions on Iran in the dispute over the country's nuclear 
program, ORF radio in its early morning news Morgenjournal points 
out yet another round of sanctions might be looming in three months' 
time, should Iran fail to cooperate sufficiently with the UN in this 
matter. Diplomats in Vienna have explained Russia backed the new 
sanctions on the condition that Western nations forego plans for a 
resolution on Iran at the International Atomic Energy Agency. 
Nonetheless, after Mondays' UNSC session, the five UN veto powers 
and Germany emphasized their continuing commitment to a diplomatic 
solution. The fact remains, though, that "now, it is official: The 
world's lack of trust in Iran has reached a new, unprecedented high. 
The UNSC has never been as united on the issue as this time. (...) 
After all, international suspicion has grown recently that Iran is 
covertly working on nuclear weapons," commentator for the 
Morgenjournal Elisabeth Manas says. 
Kilner