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TAGS: OPRC KPAO AU
 
SUBJECT: AUSTRIAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: April 10, 2008 
 
 
Heated Debate As EU Treaty Agreed 
 
¶1. The Austrian Parliament ratified the EU Reform Treaty on 
Wednesday after a heated and at times emotional debate. Along with 
the coalition partners OeVP and SPOe, the opposition Greens also 
supported the Treaty. The two other opposition parties, the FPOe and 
the BZOe, vehemently opposed ratification, and continued to call for 
a referendum. The leaders of the FPOe and the BZOe, Heinz-Christian 
Strache and Peter Westenthaler, spoke of a "constitutional 
violation," and in response, Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer (SPOe) 
criticized them for "wanting Austria to end up outside the European 
Union." Gusenbauer emphasized that ratification of the Treaty was an 
"important, necessary and right step" for both Austria and Europe. 
Austria is the eighth EU member state to ratify the Treaty of 
Lisbon, which will establish a President for the European Council, 
give more powers to the European Parliament, allow citizens to 
petition for a referendum, and decrease the size of the EU 
Commission. 
The debate of the EU Reform Treaty in Parliament yesterday centered 
on the question of whether a referendum on the treaty was necessary 
and whether ratificatio would cost Austria its independence and 
more paticularly its neutrality. FPOe boss Heinz-Christia Strache, 
a leading opponent of ratification, sad that the SPOe, OeVP and the 
Greens wanted to mae Ausria a "small province of Brussels" and 
eve compared the event to the "Anschluss" with Nazi Grmany 70 
years ago, semi-official daily Wiener Zitung reports. 
Mass-circulation tabloid Kronen Zitung, which has been highly 
critical of the Treaty of Lisbon throughout, runs the front-page 
headline "Breach of Constitution in Parliament!" Following a "verbal 
battle" inParliament over the treaty, 151 MPs voted in favorof the 
document, and 27 against, the tabloid says. For liberal daily Der 
Standard, the "atmosphere in Parliament yesterday resembled scenes 
from a soccer stadium rather than a state occasion." While 
Chancellor Gusenbauer praised the EU as the "most successful project 
of civilization," FPOe MP Barbara Rosenkranz said it was a "project 
with a sell-by date." Meanwhile, the daily's chief editor Alexandra 
Foederl-Schmid criticizes the government of having "failed to use 
the opportunity to actively inform the Austrian people" about the 
Treaty. "As soon as the brouhaha over ratification has died down, 
the coalition will have to live up to its obligation to inform. 
Democracy also means facing the people's questions." 
 
 
Greater School Autonomy Recommended 
 
¶2. A commission on education reform in Austria has submitted its 
second report, recommending a simplified administrative system and 
greater autonomy for schools, as for example on hiring teachers. The 
dual responsibilities of federal and provincial administrations need 
to be cut, the commission said, and suggested money saved on 
administration should be going towards improving the schools 
themselves. 
In related news, ten schools in Vienna and Upper Austria have 
applied for permission to install video camera surveillance systems. 
The data protection commission has said schools must present 
detailed proof of why such measures are necessary, and has also 
pushed for a general discussion with schools on security issues. 
Looking to reform the nation's schools, the School Reform 
Commission, created by the coalition government, released its second 
report on Wednesday. The report recommends turning the school system 
inside out and simplifying it thoroughly, allowing money currently 
spent on administration to be spent on the schools themselves, 
semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung says. Presently, both the federal 
and provincial governments are responsible for schools, though local 
authorities also conduct inspections. The report proposes that the 
federal government be given total responsibility, ruling out the 
need for provincial and local school inspectors. The commission also 
recommends that all teachers should be covered by public services 
and salary legislation. Currently, teachers of different school 
types receive different salaries. The training of teachers should 
also be standardized by integrating teacher education colleges into 
universities and by implementing admission tests for all potential 
teachers. The money to be saved by these measures, several million 
of Euros according to the commission, could be handed to the 
schools. They should also be given more autonomy and control over 
how the money is spent, choosing their own teachers, priorities and 
curriculum, the commission believes. 
 
 
King Abdullah Praises Austria on Mideast 
 
¶3. Jordan's King Abdullah has completed a two-day official visit to 
Austria during which he held talks with top political leaders. 
Following talks Wednesday with Austrian President Heinz Fischer, the 
King praised Austria's long-standing commitment to the Middle East 
peace process and expressed hopes for Austria to play a "fruitful 
role" within the EU. The Jordanian monarch invited Fischer to pay a 
reciprocal visit to Jordan this coming November. Mass-circulation 
tabloid Kronen Zeitung says Jordan's King Abdullah "praised 
Austria's balanced and friendly position in the Middle East" during 
his official visit to Vienna this week. The Mideast peace process 
"naturally" topped the agenda during the Jordanian monarch's meeting 
with Austrian President Heinz Fischer. King Abdullah also expressed 
his hope that Austria's position on the Middle East might also "bear 
fruit within the European Union." Currently, the peace process was 
at a "critical stage," facing huge challenges in the coming months, 
the Jordanian King added, and concluded by emphasizing the "long and 
cordial friendship" between Jordan and Austria. Austria's President 
Heinz Fischer replied that regarding the Middle East, he was "hoping 
for perspectives, for a just and acceptable solution for both 
sides."  At the end of this process, "there should naturally be two 
independent states." 
 
 
Austria to Take Over Command of EUFOR Troops in Chad 
 
¶4. Col. Heinz Assmann, the commander of the Austrian contingent of 
soldiers deployed in Chad as part of the EUFOR peacekeeping mission, 
is scheduled to take over command of the entire EUFOR special forces 
in the African country as of April 15. Analyzing the current 
situation in Chad, a commentator on ORF television said the 
"decisive question is whether EUFOR will be able to limit its 
mission to the protection of refugees. The rebels are quiet for the 
time being, but there can be no doubt they will launch new attacks 
in the future." Semi-official daily Wiener Zeitung quotes the 
operation general commander of the EUFOR's Chad mission, Irish gen. 
Patrick Nash as praising the Austrian contingent for "doing a great 
job." Austria's Defense Minister Norbert Darabos, who was in Chad 
visiting the Austrian soldiers earlier this week, was "very proud" 
of the General's assessment, the daily writes. It "shows we might 
the right decision to commit ourselves to this mission," Darabos 
added. 
 
 
"Iraq Assessment: No Light at the End of the Tunnel," 
 
¶5. ... headlines an Austrian daily, writing about the report before 
Congress of US General David Petraeus this week. The hearing turned 
into another "site of the presidential election campaign, with the 
three presidential hopefuls, John McCain, Hillary Clinton and Barack 
Obama in their statements each giving "a taste of what to expect in 
months to come," the daily comments. McCain argued "success in Iraq 
is within reach," and a withdrawal would therefore be 
"irresponsible," but Hillary Clinton criticized it would be 
"irresponsible to continue to pursue a policy that has failed to 
produce the results we've been promised again and again." Barack 
Obama emphasized the "strategically wrong decision" to invade Iraq 
in the first place, and called for a timetable on troop withdrawal. 
 In centrist daily Die Presse, Washington correspondent Norbert Rief 
headlines "Iraq war: A general between the fronts." Like other 
Austrian commentators, Rief argues the three US presidential 
hopefuls have used Gen. Petraeus' report to Congress as an 
"opportunity for some verbal sparring on the military operation's 
future, to present their own strategies for Iraq's future and to 
badmouth their competitors' proposals." Petraeus, Rief continues, 
was downgraded to a mere extra, but he did make clear that in his 
view a premature troop pullout would undo all military success 
achieved with the surge in Iraq. 
Senior commentator for liberal daily Der Standard Gudrun Harrer says 
"with freedom came chaos" in Iraq. "The fact that the US troops did 
nothing to stop the wave of looting after the fall of Baghdad in 
2003 was the beginning of many Iraqis' alienation from their US 
liberators." In addition, most analysts of the past five years' 
developments agree the United States' "biggest mistake was to 
dissolve the Iraqi army," Harrer writes. The commentator suggests 
the US "failed to understand that the ensuing chaos contained a 
powerful message: Whoever ends up running Iraq after Saddam Hussein 
is not going to succeed in creating and maintaining stability." 
Furthermore, developments led to a "growing distrust of the US among 
Iraqis, even among those sympathetic to their country's invasion. 
The looting had many asking themselves whether the Iraqi people's 
identity was to be destroyed." 
 
 
Olympic Torch Relay Changed In San Francisco 
 
¶6. The Olympic torch relay has taken place in San Francisco amid 
tight security and general confusion, after the original route was 
cut in half and altered, as thousands of pro- and anti-China 
activists lined the streets. The Mayor of San Francisco cited 
security concerns as the reason to change the route. The closing 
ceremony was moved from a waterfront plaza to a motorway overpass in 
what commentators and observers described as a "cat-and-mouse game." 
Demonstrators sought to disrupt earlier torch relays in Athens, 
Istanbul, Paris and London, says ORF online news. 
Kilner