Among the victims and injured of the flood disaster in South East Asia are numerous Austrians. According to official data of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 7 Austrian casualties have been identified with certainty, while no contact could be established to a total of 679 persons in Asia and Kenya. 468 of them are in Thailand and Sri Lanka, who are currently being considered missing (status: 3 January). As official bodies inform, there is little hope for 130 persons. 1,659 Austrians, among them 70 severely injured, returned on special flights and in ambulance jets. No information has been obtained from other countries of South East Asia that Austrians had been injured, stated Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik at a press conference on 2 January 2005. All efforts were being concentrated on “helping those Austrians that became witnesses and victims of the natural disaster in South East Asia”, said Plassnik.
The Federal Chancellery and Foreign Ministry permanently coordinate an emergency team, in which representatives of the ministries, the Austrian Airlines (AUA), the tour operators and relief organisations are represented.
Rescue teams for medical and psychological first aid as well as members of the emergency team and experts for locating and identifying the dead were sent to the crisis regions. The Austrian representations are supported in their local consular tasks by staff of the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of the Interior.
Two emergency hotlines for the victims and their families (0800-222-666 and 0501-150-4411) have been set up within the Foreign Ministry, which are available round the clock. Information and support is also offered by the federal provinces with their own helplines.
The Chancellor expressed his “great concern” about the missing persons in an Austrian TV broadcast on 2 January 2005. One would have to bear with the uncertainty for some time as to whether they would ever return. Still, one should never give up hope, said Schüssel. The Republic and the provincial governments had allocated 2 million euro to emergency aid. In Austria 10 million euro had been collected for aid in Asia from private and public donators. The EU had so far made available 300 million euro.
Global relief efforts were being coordinated, said the Federal Chancellor. Among other measures, consultations about granting debt relief to the countries affected would be held at a UN conference of the donor countries and at the EU level. In Austria concrete projects would be discussed with the Governors of the federal provinces on 10 January 2005. These projects should be a “visible contribution of Austria” to international relief, explained Schüssel.
The Austrian victims of the natural disaster receive financial aid also from the Family Hardship Equalisation Fund.
A new charity campaign under the motto “Neighbour in Need – Austria helps the flood disaster victims” was launched on 28 December 2004 by the foundation “Nachbar in Not“ and the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF). Donations to this charity amounted to 7.3 million euro already on 2 January 2005. Numerous companies and institutions have pledged to make sizeable donations. Executive Director of the Foundation Michael Opriesnig stated: “Our disaster teams are already in the regions affected and aid has started”. ■

A main priority of Austria’s first female Minister of the Interior Liese Prokop, a member of the People’s Party (ÖVP), is to settle conflicts and “prevent fear“. After she was sworn in on 22 December 2004, Prokop (63) stressed that the humanitarian aspect of the asylum issue required due consideration, while abuse had to be punished “harshly”. Prokop’s intention was to involve all those concerned in future asylum policies and cooperate above all with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the federal provinces. As in the past, she would take advantage of her excellent relations with the NGOs to find sound – but in particular humane – solutions, underlined the Minister. Regarding the restructuring of the police forces Prokop stated that she would implement the necessary reforms (merger of urban and rural police, refugee care systems, new asylum and civilian service laws, preparations for EU Presidency) in cooperation with the staff. She also announced that security concepts “tailored to the needs” of the federal provinces would be developed. ■

On 29 December 2004 Federal President Heinz Fischer expressed great appreciation for the crisis management of the official bodies in the context of the flood disaster in South East Asia. “I think I may well say that the women and men in the Foreign Ministry are deeply committed to helping”, said Fischer after a visit by Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik to his official seat at the former imperial palace Hofburg in Vienna.
This is a disaster of “very, very great dimensions”, stressed Austria’s Federal President. The distance to the crisis region, communication difficulties and the local “chaotic situation” had to be taken into consideration. He was of the opinion “that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spared no efforts and did everything within its powers”, said Fischer. It was important that “now all join forces“.
The Federal President appealed to the Austrian population to make donations in the framework of the charity campaign “Nachbar in Not“.
The head of state visited the injured in Vienna’s General Hospital (AKH), who had just returned to Austria and are also suffering from the psychological effects of the disaster. AKH chief and university professor Reinhard Krepler commented: “At AKH we have a special team taking care of patients with post-traumatic stress disorders“. ■

Federal President Heinz Fischer and Minister of Defence Günther Platter paid a visit to Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo from 20 to 21 December 2004.
The talks with the governing troika in Sarajevo focused on the crisis threatening also domestically after the international community’s high representative in Bosnia, Paddy Ashdown, had taken action due to the inadequate cooperation of the government with the UN War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague and after several ministers had to resign. Following his meeting with the leadership for all of Bosnia, Austrian Federal President Fischer emphasised the prospects of European integration for the country. He expressed his conviction that with joint efforts Bosnia and Herzegovina would step-by-step prepare for EU membership. Austria supported this approach it considered very useful.
Furthermore, the Federal President stressed that Austria’s military mission in Bosnia could be assessed favourably. Currently almost 280 Austrians serve in the EUFOR peace troop “Althea“ in Bosnia. Together with the soldiers, Fischer participated in a Christmas ceremony in the Austrian headquarters in Camp Butmir.
After their trip to Bosnia, Fischer and Platter also paid a visit to the Austrian soldiers in Kosovo. During his visit to Camp Casablanca near Suva Reka in the South Serbian province under UN control, President Fischer emphasised “how important Austria’s commitment in this region” was. About 540 soldiers of the Austrian Federal Army were currently in Kosovo. According to Minister of Defence Platter, the Austrian KFOR contingent would consist of up to 600 soldiers also in 2005. ■

“The relations between Israel and Austria have never been better“, concluded resigning Israeli Ambassador to Austria Avraham Toldeo in an interview with Austria Presse Agentur (APA) on 29 December 2004. The current visit to Israel by President of the Nationalrat (Lower House of the Austrian Parliament) Andreas Khol rounded off a diplomatically successful year 2004, which had culminated in an official visit by Israeli President of State Moshe Katzav in October, said the Ambassador.
“I have been convinced that Austria is one of the most moderate partners in the EU“, stressed Toledo. Especially under its present government Austria had done a lot, stated the Ambassador highlighting the restitution payments and school instruction on the Holocaust. As the personal climax of his career in Austria, the diplomat described his appointment as Ambassador in July 2003. The normalisation of relations had been announced during an official visit of Austria’s former Foreign Minister Benita Ferrero-Waldner to Israel, which was followed in 2004 by a series of high-ranking diplomatic visits. ■

In the presence of Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel, the state holding company ÖIAG, the Linz-based steel group voestalpine (VA) and the Styrian government signed a statement about establishing the “Erzberg Private Foundation“ on 21 December 2004. The foundation guarantees ore-winning on a long-term basis and the future exploitation of the Erzberg (“Ore Mountain”) by the province of Styria.
Federal Chancellor Schüssel described the sale of a 25% ÖIAG stake in voestalpine Erzberg GmbH to voestalpine and the creation of the private foundation as a “win-win situation“. As laid down by Erzberg Foundation, after the closure of mining operations the entire remaining assets will pass into the possession of the federal province of Styria. The assets of the Foundation will be used to develop a future-oriented regional economy. “For ÖIAG this is a minor step but it is important for a sustainable future development of the Erzberg region”, stressed Schüssel. In this context he also drew attention to ÖIAG’s success record. It would be free of debt in the third quarter 2006 at the latest.
In exchange for ÖIAG’s obligation to contribute its shares in the GmbH to the Foundation, a purchase price of 10 million euro was agreed on.
Styria’s Governor Waltraud Klasnic reminded of the fact that the Erzberg had provided jobs for 5,000 people still some years ago, while today 230 maintained mining operations. Klasnic: “With this Foundation an arrangement has been worked out that is not disadvantageous to anybody. It gives the federal province what it wants, namely the Erzberg”.
VA Director General Wolfgang Eder highlighted the strategic importance of the Erzberg as a provider of input material for voestalpine in times of surging raw materials prices. Under the current ore supply contract, an annual volume of about 2 million tons will be supplied also in the future. ÖIAG CEO Rainer Wieltsch emphasised that with this “creative foundation solution” an ideal privatisation concept could be realised for the entire region safeguarding jobs over a longer period. The federal province of Styria guaranteed that the Erzberg would be preserved as an industrial monument even after closing down ore operations, stated Wieltsch. ■

Austria’s economy recorded a strong growth also in the third quarter 2004. As in the second quarter, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased after seasonal adjustment by 0.8% compared to the previous period. Real GDP grew by 2.7% year-on-year, after rising by 1.8% in the second quarter, informed the Institute for Economic Research (Wifo) on 21 December 2004. The growth trend was due to a persistent heavy export demand.
Whereas the economic boom was subsiding in the euro area in the third quarter with a GDP plus of 0.3%, Austria continued to record a dynamic development. Real GDP adjusted for seasonal and working day effects increased by 0.8% from the level of the second quarter; thus growth was as strong as in the prior period.
According to Wifo, a cumulative growth of 1.8% was registered for the first three quarters from the prior-year level. The Wifo experts expect a real growth of 1.9% for all of 2004, while the Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS) forecasts a 2.1% GDP increase.
Austria’s economy benefits from the great international demand. In the third quarter goods exports were 12.4% above the prior-year level. This corresponds to a cumulative increase by 11.4% since the beginning of 2004. ■

This year the stock exchanges in the economic triangle Vienna-Budapest-Prague (“Centrope“ region) boasted a strong performance, Gerhard Rehor, head of the Financial Markets division of Raiffeisenlandesbank Niederösterreich-Wien (RLB NÖ-Wien), informed reporters in Vienna on 28 December 2004. Those who invested 1,000 euro on Vienna’s stock market at the beginning of 2004 could now be happy about an amount of 1,560 euro. In Prague and Budapest indexes registered a respective increase of 65%. The growth potential of the stock exchanges in Central and Eastern Europe was still enormous, assured Rehor. In 2004 savings bank books and fixed interest-bearing loans yielded an average interest of 2% and 5%, respectively. Shares increased world-wide by 7%. ■

Based on the resolution of the Council of Ministers of 14 December 2004 Austria “would for the second time take advantage of the opportunity of positioning itself at the international level. The City of Linz (Upper Austria) has successfully proven its European and international commitment in the past years, e.g. by staging the European Cultural Month 1998 and hosting the two conferences of the ministers of culture in 1998 and 2003”, stated Secretary of State for the Arts and Media Franz Morak.
The application will be evaluated by a panel consisting of representatives of the European Council, the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Committee of the Regions. Presumably in May 2005 Linz – together with Vilnius (Lithuania) – will be appointed officially Cultural Capital 2009 on the basis of this report and “with an excellent project”, explained Federal Chancellor Schüssel.
“Linz is a location defined by the future“, Morak added. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Ars Electronica festival, the city also lived up to its reputation as an internationally renowned media art centre. Morak: “Also its commitment to contemporary architecture and a cultural climate of open-mindedness make Linz an excellent location for the Cultural Capital 2009“. The construction of a new opera house in Blumau is to be completed by the end of 2009. This will continue the success story transforming the industrial town into a cultural metropolis that hosts the Bruckner festival, the Sound Cloud and Lentos. ■

Architect Günther Domenig (70) received the Great Austrian State Prize 2004. Secretary of State for the Arts Franz Morak praised the native Carinthian as a “visionary anticipating what can be calculated today only with state-of-the art information technology“. Domenig created international furore with his architectural designs for the Olympic Games in Munich in 1972. He also won wide acclaim as the designer of the building for Zentralsparkasse in Vienna’s Favoritenstraße (1986), which in the meantime has been classified as a historical monument. ■

Elfriede Jelinek, the recent Nobel Prize Laureate in Literature, personally received the Nobel Prize diploma and the corresponding medal at the Swedish embassy in Vienna on 17 December 2004. “You have expanded the art of literature”, Swedish Academy’s Permanent Secretary Horace Engdahl, who had travelled to Vienna for this special occasion, said to the reclusive author of a great oeuvre, including “The Piano Teacher” and “Die Kinder der Toten“. The short ceremony was also attended by the Chairwoman of the Nobel Committee of the Swedish Academy, Kjell Espmark, as well as Swedish Ambassador to Austria Gabriella Lindholm. The event was followed by a dinner in a private setting. ■

The artists Christian Hutzinger, Kurt Hofstetter, Stephanie Pflaum, Werner Schrödl and Leo Zogmayer will represent Austria at the Triennale in New Delhi from 15 January to 10 February 2005. Austria’s contribution to “India’s most significant art event” would offer a “small but impressive cross-section of contemporary artistic creation in Austria”, said Carl Aigner, the curator of the Austrian contribution and director of Lower Austria’s provincial museum in St. Pölten, whom Secretary of State Morak had recently awarded the Cross of Honour for Science and Art granted by the Austrian Federal President. In the Triennale – an international contemporary art festival without a guiding theme – about 40 countries participate with works of approximately 100 artists representing painting, photography as well as object, concept and media art. ■

“In the light of the successful activity of the Artists’ Social Insurance Fund (Künstler-sozialversicherungsfonds/KSVF), it has become possible to increase the subsidy for social insurance contributions from currently 872 euro annually to 1,026 euro annually with effect 1 January 2005“, said Secretary of State for the Arts Franz Morak on 30 December 2004. Artists of all branches whose annual income from independent artistic activities is at least 3,881.52 euro and whose total annual income including that from other activities does not exceed 19,621.67 euro are eligible to this subsidy. If a person’s status as an “artist” is disputed, the Artists’ Committee of the KSVF will pass a decision. The subsidies granted by the Fund are paid directly to the social insurance institution. ■

Two Austrian research teams are among the top ten success stories in physics of the year 2004. The number one is the quantum cryptography research team headed by Anton Zeilinger of the Institute for Experimental Physics of Vienna University. The low-temperature physicists around Rudolf Grimm of the Institute for Experimental Physics of Innsbruck University rank fifth. The top 10 success stories are selected every year by the platform “Physicsweb“ of the London Institute of Physics – an international association of scholars with 37,000 members. In cooperation with the Austrian company “ARC Seibersdorf research”, experimental physicist and teleportation expert Zeilinger demonstrated in April 2004 the world’s first bank transaction by using a quantum key for encoding. The bank transfer was made on behalf of the City of Vienna from Vienna’s town hall to a branch of Bank Austria Creditanstalt (BA-CA) through a fibre-optic cable specifically laid for this purpose. The technology may for example be used to generate identical strings of keys for decoding a specific message at two places simultaneously, which cannot be transferred after that. Another great advantage is the sensitivity of quantum systems. Inevitably disturbing the process, eavesdroppers could be detected immediately. In practice this procedure is not very different from a traditional computer transfer to a bank. There is only a new field on the electronic bank transfer form: “generate code”. In their experiment the researches completed a real bank transfer. After activation, the encoding system started in the BA-CA bank. The quantum key was generated simultaneously in the branch bank and in the town hall, i.e. the place of the online transfer, within about 30 seconds.
In July 2004 Rudolf Grimm reported evidence for the superfluidity of so-called fermionic condensates. The findings are not only important for basic research. The state of superfluidity, in which for example liquids flow without friction loss, is of great interest also to engineers and technologists. The experiments focus on the phenomenon of the so-called Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). At temperatures close to the absolute zero point particles practically lose their identity and start to function in parallel. These particles also move as if they were a single one, completely resistanceless, i.e. without friction. However, BEC may be reached only with bosons. By resorting to a trick the researchers in Innsbruck have also succeeded in transferring fermions to this state. From a gas of fermionic lithium-6 atoms they produced pairs of molecules forming bosonic molecules.
Furthermore, the US science magazine “Popular Science“ selected the Austrian Claire Gmachl as one of the “annual brilliant 10 under 40“. After completing her diploma studies in Innsbruck, she earned a doctorate at Vienna Technical University. The 37-year old woman from Salz¬burg conducts research on so-called quantum-cascade lasers in the USA and has been associate professor of electrical engineering at Princeton University since 2003. The applied physicist perceives herself also as a model for female students and wants to encourage them to embark on careers in the natural sciences and technology. Currently she is inspiring only the young women at her university in New Jersey –
but hopes that they will become more.
The lasers on which Gmachl does research are particularly useful for chemical gas analysis because every trace gas shows characteristics which can be made visible in the infrared range. The spectrum of possible applications includes environmental research (detecting traces of greenhouse gases) and breath gas analysis in medicine (analysing chemicals in the breath to diagnose kidney or liver conditions). The technology could also be used in transplantation medicine. When an organ is rejected a trace gas is exhaled. By a simple, non-invasive breath gas test problems may be identified at an early stage. “Popular Science“ had spotlighted the application of quantum-cascade lasers to detect explosives and chemical weapons in the combat against terrorism. ■

In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birthday of Werner Berg (1904-1981), Österreichische Galerie Belvedere presents an exhibition (running until 30 January 2005) of the key works of this highly original representative of Austrian expressionism. Werner Berg was born in Wuppertal (Germany) and earned a doctorate in political science. He was offered the position of an assistant professor at Vienna University in 1927 but preferred to pursue an artistic career at the Art Academy in Munich. Together with his fellow student and later wife Amalie, he turned his back to urbanity. From 1930 until his death in 1981 he and his five children lived on farming in a South Carinthian village. In his studio above the sheep shed he created about 1,600 paintings characterised by the austere and beautiful landscape, the seasons and by privation. He became famous for works like his portrait of the poet Christine Lavant. In 1968 he was dedicated a museum in Bleiburg. During his stay as a war painter in Norway from 1941 to 1944, his aversion to National Socialism was growing. Finally, he was labelled as a “degenerate” outsider. The “agrarian idyll” of the parents became a burden to the children. The outstanding paintings document the charm of the Slovenian border region, which the writer Peter Handke was to describe so masterly in “Die Wiederholung” (“Repetition”). ■

Since 19 December 2004 the National Museum Gdansk has been showing the large-scale exhibition “Transalpinum – from Giorgione to Dürer, from Titian to Ru¬bens“. The show previously presented at the National Museum Warsaw offers about 50 masterpieces of the collection of Vienna’s Museum of Art History (KHM). With this presentation, the KHM thanks for a precious loan. In the “Polish Year 2002” the large triptych by Hans Memling, a loan of the National Museum Gdansk, was the artistic highlight of the exhibition “Thesauri Poloniae – The Treasures of Poland” held in Vienna. Thus the current show from Vienna continues the longstanding excellent relations between Poland and Austria in the museum and exhibition sector.
In mid-March 2005 the KHM will stage a large-scale exhibition on Bernardo Bellotto, called Canaletto (born in Venice in 1721, died in Warsaw in 1780). It will for the first time bring together all Bellotto works of the Royal Palace in Warsaw, the drawings from the National Museum Warsaw, numerous other loans and, of course, the pieces of the KHM’s collection. Canaletto was for example commissioned by Empress Maria Theresa to paint a series of 13 large vedute depicting famous Viennese squares and imperial summer palaces. In 1770 Canaletto became the court painter of King Stanislaus II. in Warsaw. He transferred the highly developed Venetian art of vedute painting to the countries of Central Europe. ■

The world’s best festival for the friends of Franz Schubert’s music is Schubertiade Schwarzenberg (Vorarlberg). In 2004 the festival offered 40 lieder and 10 piano recitals, 36 chamber and 4 orchestra concerts as well as other highlights starring the world’s most renowned performers, who attracted more than 50,000 visitors from all over the world. In 2005 the programme is of the same excellent quality. Since it is impossible to go into more detail in this context, we refer you to the festival’s website. ■

The young Franz Schubert, then in love with a girl called Therese Grob, played the organ in the church in Lichtental (Vienna), near his birthplace in Nußdorferstraße 54. From 28 June to 30 August 2005 the church, which was splendidly restored some years ago, will be the venue of very atmospheric performances (lieder and piano recitals, choir concerts) with music by Schubert and likeminded composers like Felix Mendelsohn-Bartholdy, Robert Schumann, and Johannes Brahms performed by outstanding musicians – and all that at moderate prices. ■

The primary goal of Österreichische Sporthilfe, founded in 1972 as a non-profit association, is the tailored support of Austrian athletes. Today Sporthilfe presents itself as a renowned national institution completing its mission – with the support of its partners – more successfully than ever. Österreichische Sporthilfe is both a contact point for Austrian top-level athletes and a partner for the specialised sport associations. Its main task is to guarantee a professional environment promoting the performance of aspiring athletes and young talents successfully competing in the international arena. Managing President, Secretary of State for Sports Karl Schweitzer, signed an agreement on the promotion of a total of 201 athletes still before Christmas. Based on the performance standards and the classification criteria, 29 athletes of the world class, 48 of the competitive level, 70 of the special level and 42 categorised as emerging talents as well as 12 “women in top-level sports” were granted a total financial aid of € 39,025. Schweitzer showed himself also pleased about the introduction of uniform classification criteria for Austrian institutions promoting top-level sports, i.e. Top Sport Austria, the Austrian Olympic Committee and Österreichische Sporthilfe, taking effect on 1 January 2005. ■

The year 2004 has been a milestone in the history of Austrian sport. Due to amending the Act on Gambling and the Federal Sport Promotion Act, budget negotiations were highly successful. For the first time it became possible to ensure a significant increase of the financial resources allocated to Austrian sport. Thanks to the abolishment of the subsidy ceiling, a 3%-share in the sales revenues of Austrian Lotteries and a guaranteed minimum subsidy of 40 million euro annually, sport in Austria has been provided with an unprecedented financial basis. As the new legal provisions apply for an indefinite period, planning over several years has become possible in top-level sports. “Thus Austrian sport has now been attached the importance in financial terms that it had been attributed by the Austrian people for decades thanks to the achievements of the athletes”, said Schweitzer. With two gold and four silver medals as well as one bronze medal, Austria was considerably more successful at the 2004 Olympic Games than in any of the other Games in the past 60 years. Mass sport events in the next years (Winter World University Games, biathlon world cup and ice hockey world championship in 2005, the ski-flying, sailing and cycling world championships in 2006) create jobs and help to strengthen Austria’s position as a business location. In the commemorative year 2005 Austrian sport will present itself beyond national borders as a factor crucial in building the Austrian society. Additional investments in the construction of sport venues, the maintenance of infrastructure as well as the training promotion programmes for instructors and officials will form the basis for future success. In the sphere of mass and health sports the Secretariat of State will launch – in alliance with the Federal Sport Association – the Second Republic’s largest mass sport campaign titled “Fit for Austria” in spring 2005. The aim of this campaign is to draw attention to the potential of organised sport as a service provider in the health system as well as to publicise existing opportunities and programmes promoting health. Physical exercise and sport make an essential contribution to a subjective sense of wellbeing. What is more, the economy and the health system may reap considerable benefits at the macro- and micro-economic level. ■