An information bus of the federal government will tour about 90 towns and municipalities in Austria until mid-October to inform about the advantages of the tax reform and provide personal counselling
At a presentation in front of the Federal Chancellery on 1 June 2004 Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel stated: “It is our aim to inform about the most comprehensive tax reform ever. It results in less taxes, and this means more money for living. This reform will above all give more money to families and thus ease the financial strain on people”, said Schüssel. The total volume of the 2005 tax reform adopted by the government was 3 billion euro. The new simple tax rate offered advantages to all wage tax and income tax payers. The major part of the tax relief benefited recipients of smaller incomes. As from 1 January 2005, gross annual earnings of about 15,770 euro of workers not eligible to tax deductions for sole wage-earners, gross annual earnings of 10,000 euro of the self-employed as well as gross annual earnings of 13,500 euro of pensioners would be tax-free.
“The tax reform is the Austrian response to the European challenge to achieve the goals of the Lisbon strategy, i.e. to make Europe the world’s fastest growing economic area. Within the European Union, where the interest rate and monetary policies are set by the European Central Bank, national governments have scope for action mainly in the areas of research and development, education and tax policy”, explained the Federal Chancellor.
Thanks to the consolidation of the public-sector expenditure, the government has now sufficient room for manoeuvre to implement the tax reform. “Despite the economic low in the Europe, Austria is still among the most stable countries of the EU“, underlined Schüssel. In this context, he pointed out that the overall tax ratio was reduced by 2%.
Direct information is provided by a team of the “Austria hotline“ of the federal government, supported by experts of the Ministry of Finance. Personal counselling is offered. In addition, PC terminals with “tax calculators” for calculating tax savings are available. ■

At a special session of the Nationalrat (Lower House of Parliament) dedicated to the European Constitution on 4 June 2004, Federal Chancellor Schüssel rejected once more a future “two-class society” of voting and non-voting EU Commissioners.
The Federal Chancellor was, however, optimistic that the negotiations on the EU Constitution would be concluded soon with a positive result. The Convention’s draft took account of many concerns of Austria, e.g. the incorporation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, national identity and the unanimity requirement concerning the exploitation of water resources.
In addition to the preservation of peace, growth and jobs, the issue of security was a topic the citizens considered vital for the future. A European police force, an EU border police, a European public prosecutor, a powerful EU Anti-Terrorism Coordinator and, on the long term, a European Penal Code were indispensable. ■

The legendary President of the Economic Chamber Austria (Wirtschaftskammer Öster¬reich/WKÖ) and the People’s Party Economic Federation was commemorated at a festive event celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Rudolf Sallinger Fund on 1 June 2004. In 1979 Sallinger had founded this Fund to promote scientific publications addressing issues and challenges of small and mid-sized companies.
Among the guests were Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel and WKÖ-President Christoph Leitl. The speeches focused on Sallinger’s merits and the European economic policy. Schüssel, who as the former Secretary General of the Economic Federation had closely collaborated with Sallinger for many years, primarily addressed the personality of his mentor. “Patience, toughness and a goal” were Sallinger’s success strategies as an economic policy-maker and social partner, which were still valid today. Sallinger’s era was a “positive example of economic leadership and a social partnership not oriented towards the past and reduced to its past achievements“, said Schüssel. ■

Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel reported in a press conference after the Council of Ministers’ session on 2 June 2004 about the recent EU-Latin America Summit in Mexico (28/29 May 2004), in which he had participated. “This summit with about 60 states was also very interesting for us because the next EU-Latin America Summit will be an important highlight of the Austrian EU Presidency in 2006. On 12 and 13 May 2006 we will organise a large-scale meeting with more than 1,000 media representatives and delegations from 60 countries. This is an enormous organisational challenge. We want to consciously involve the economic sector, universities, NGOs and scholars. The key issues addressed by this summit will be social cohesion and multilateralism. Mexico will be our partner responsible for coordination in the Latin American area”, explained the Federal Chancellor.
The focus of the two-day summit in Guadalajara (Mexico) was on strengthening political and notably economic cooperation. The Latin American states showed great interest in intensified relations with the enlarged EU. The common objective was “a strategic partnership to realise a trade liberalisation benefiting both sides”, said Schüssel, who had also met with Mexican President Vincente Fox for bilateral talks. ■

On 5 and 6 June 2004 the Europe-Forum Wachau was held for the tenth time at the convent of Göttweig. The event lived up to its international reputation as a platform for meeting and dialogue on the future of Europe. This year’s topic was: “Europe-25 – New Perspectives for Regional Alliances”.
Among the prominent participants were not only Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel, Foreign Minister Benita Ferrero-Waldner and Governor of Lower Austria Erwin Pröll, but also Greek Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis as well as the Foreign Ministers of Slovenia and Croatia, Dimitrij Rupel and Miomir Zuzul.
“Europe is our dream we live and the reality we dream of. 10 years after our accession we also see that the effort was worthwhile“, concluded Federal Chancellor Schüssel and pointed out that since 1994 wages had increased by a total of 20 billion euro, that Austrian exports to other EU Member States had doubled, while those to the neighbouring countries had even quadrupled, creating as much as 70,000 new jobs.
Schüssel stressed how important it was to adopt a European Constitution. A failure would be “a major setback to the idea that an EU-25 can work. All participants should be ready for compromise and negotiations”, demanded Schüssel. The Constitution represented a quantum leap with the EU’s own legal personality, the EU Foreign Minister, the simplification of procedures and strengthening of the European Parliament and Commission. ■

“Our position remains unchanged”, stressed Federal Chancellor Schüssel after the session of the Council of Ministers on 2 June 2004 in response to the question about the future appointment procedure for EU commissioners in the framework of the new EU Constitution. The Austrian federal government adhered to its position paper demanding one commissioner per Member State, stated Schüssel. “We have excellently coordinated our demands with a number of smaller and mid-sized countries. We want a new Constitution Treaty. The enlarged Europe needs new rules, simpler institutions, simpler decision-making procedures and a new Constitution, which has already integrated many Austrian proposals, such as the need to secure pensions and the request for unanimous decisions concerning soil, water and energy resources. We have pushed that through. We have also contributed to enshrining animal protection”, said the Federal Chancellor.
It was still an open question whether the stability objectives could also be incorporated in the objectives of the European Constitution, which would be vital “to achieve a balanced set of measures comprising employment, growth and price stability“, explained Schüssel. ■

Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel showed himself pleased with the recently published report of the Court of Auditors on the budget development in the period 2000 to 2002.
“This report is an interesting analysis that encourages us. It clearly shows that the budget consolidation in the years 2001 and 2002 has been successful. We have achieved a zero deficit. In 2001 this was mainly due to the increased revenue resulting from the instrument of interest paid for punctual tax payments rather than tax increases. The budget consolidation in 2002 was based primarily on measures concerning the expenditure. As far as personnel expenditure was concerned, the consolidation objective of maintaining the expenditure on the level of 1999 was met”, stressed Schüssel after the Council of Ministers’ session on 2 June 2004.
The government even succeeded in reducing the personnel expenditure in absolute numbers, from 6.72 billion euro in 1999 to 6.68 billion euro in 2002. Schüssel: “The number of public employees at the federal level was reduced from 170,000 to 159,000 in this period, without any adverse effects on the quality of public-sector services.”
Moreover, the Federal Chancellor pointed out that the Court of Auditors’ report clearly reflected the phases of the expenditure cuts: “The reduction of both discretionary expenditure and statutory social insurance expenditure, the pension reform with about 800 million euro, personnel expenditure cuts of 500 million euro within one year and interest payments reduced by 200 million euro, have resulted in expenditure cuts of almost 2 billion euro in just one year. This is a considerable amount and encourages us to continue on our way”, explained Schüssel. ■

“The opening up of the Eastern block initiated in 1989, Austria’s accession to the EU in 1995 and the recent EU enlargement have been significant milestones in Austria’s economic development”, explained Minister for Economic Affairs and Labour Martin Bartenstein at the meeting “Austria – business location in the centre of Europe” held at Vienna’s Hofburg on 28 May 2004. The radical transformations of the past 15 years have strongly influenced the economic and labour market data to the benefit of this country.
Compared to other EU Member States, Austria had realised above-average profits from the economic restructuring and catching-up processes in the Central and Eastern European countries since 1989.
The result were a 6% GDP growth (about 14 billion euro) and almost 60,000 new jobs. Among the “old” EU Member States, also in the future Austria would be the country reaping most benefits from enlargement – with a projected economic growth of 0.7% until 2010 and 30,000 new jobs, emphasised Bartenstein by referring to economic studies. ■

By extending its STEP2 service to non-Austrian banks, the Austrian National Bank (Oesterreichische Nationalbank/OeNB) takes an important step to establish Austria as a hub for payment transactions in Central and Eastern Europe.
STEP2 stands for Straight Through Euro Payment and is a system for transacting EU standard transfers, which is currently used by 85% of the domestic banks. Now this service of the OeNB has been made accessible to banks from the ten new EU Member States.
Erste Bank hooked up all its subsidiaries in Central and Eastern Europe to STEP2, and four subsidiaries of Volksbanken AG also opted for this solution, informed OeNB Vice-Governor Wolfgang Duchatczek on 26 May 2004. ■

Bayerische Landesbank (BayernLB) will sell its 46.43% share in BAWAG with effect 30 June 2004 to the Austrian Federation of Trade Unions (Österreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund/ÖGB), that will thus become again the sole owner of the Bank für Arbeit und Wirtschaft. ■

“The opening of the Central Film Archives Laxenburg is the result of an exemplary cooperation between the Province of Lower Austria and the federal government”, stated Secretary for the Arts and Media Franz Morak at the inauguration of the newly built Central Film Archives Laxenburg near Vienna (Lower Austria) on 25 May 2004. In 2001 the decision was taken to construct new archives. The foundation stone of the building designed by the architects’ firm Embacher was laid in 2003. Costs: 1.1 million euro, with a subsidy by the federal government of 580,000 euro. Morak explained that the establishment of new film archives was a milestone in audio-visual archiving. Greater importance will now be attached to cooperation of the archives with the Austrian Film Gallery in Krems and the Austrian Film Studies Centre. Morak also stressed that the project formed part of a comprehensive policy to give new impetus to the Austrian film. The federal government and the regional governments had a vital interest in strengthening Austria’s position as a film and media location by promoting an efficient and competitive film and media industry. Therefore, the federal government had taken various measures in the past years to stimulate the sector and had increased the budget of the Austrian Film Institute (Österreichisches Film Insti¬tut/ÖFI) to 9.6 million euro, while funds for film subsidies by the Federal Chancellery had been stepped up by 15%. Furthermore, the TV Film Promotion Fund was set up within the regulatory agency RTR and endowed with a budget of 7.5 million euro. The Fund was responsible for the provision of residual finance for co-productions. Hence, the production budget for films provided by the federal government had more than doubled since 2000. The Secretary of State concluded: “With the new Central Archives in Laxenburg, a new national and international centre of competence for film is established in Austria responsible for (advanced) training as well as the presentation and preservation of the cinematographic heritage”. The project integrated several prioritised concepts of his cultural policy, e.g. promoting Austria as a film location, fresh impetus to innovative architecture and exemplary cooperation with the provincial governments.
Laxenburg is one of the three main sites of the Film Archives Austria, the centre for the collection and documentation of films spanning a period of more than 100 years (from the 19th century to the present). The three tasks of the Film Archives Austria are archiving/restoration, documentation/use and presentation/publicising. Besides the new Central Film Archives Laxenburg, the Audio-Visual Centre Vienna-Augarten has archived, documented and made accessible to the public film-related collections (photos, posters, film programmes, scripts, estates, etc.) since 1997. It has a state-of-the art media library and also serves as a research centre. The Metro Kino in Vienna’s city centre has been the ideal location for presenting films and raising public awareness of archiving since 2002.
In Laxenburg the Film Archives Austria now accommodate Austria’s largest film collection. Among the approx. 70,000 film titles, there are not only numerous masterpieces of the (inter)national film history but all preserved Austrian feature films, numerous complete collections such as the so-called “Goldstaub-Bestand“ (the most renowned collection documenting the early history of cinema), a collection with film documents from the monarchy, the Reinthaler collection (Austria’s greatest cinematographic collection of the 1910s), the Köfinger collection (tourism films from the silent movie epoch), precious newsreel footage from the 1930s, the archives of “Austria Wochenschau”. This wealth of material makes it possible to document in an exemplary way Austria’s modern and cultural history of the 20th century. The oldest footage material of the Film Archives is stored in the nitrofilm bunker equipped with a special air-conditioning system. One of the tasks of the archi¬vists in Laxenburg is to restore and copy these very sensitive films. ■

Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel’s idea of organising a “Concert for Europe” – as a musical welcome by Austria to the new EU Member States – has been a great success. On 25 April 2004, a day with wonderful weather, about 70,000 people listened to the free open-air concert of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Bobby McFerrin (see also News from Austria No.11/04). Besides the Federal Chancellor and members of the federal government, most ambassadors of the EU Member States had joined the audience. Nine TV stations transmitted the concert live. Ratings showed an estimated TV audience of 60 million. After conducting the concert, Bobby McFerrin (“Don’t worry, be happy“) attended the opening of the new jazz temple “Bird¬land“ at the Hilton to jam with its owner, the jazz star Joe Zawinul. The two of them had performed together on Zawinul’s CD “Di-a-lects“ in 1986.■

“We have to work towards European-ising thinking and accept this great challenge. Especially in Europe culture has always shaped thought. Culture has never known borders”, said Secretary for the Arts and Media Morak at a joint press conference with Minister of Education Elisa¬beth Gehrer on the subject “10th anniversary of Austria’s ‘yes’ to Europe” on 25 May 2004. Austrian artists and film-makers had participated successfully in the EU programmes “Me¬dia Plus“ as well as “Culture 2000“. Thanks to an initiative of Austria, the candidate countries had been admitted as partners on an equal footing to the programmes in 2001. Austria had benefited from a considerable net cash flow from the “Culture 2000” programme in terms of the EU’s annually available total budget, on average 330% in the past years. Also “MediaPlus” had been very successful in Austria, with a net cash flow of between 75 and 118%. The “Cultural Capital” Graz – attracting 2.8 million visitors – had also been vital for Austria.
A second successful project was the Internet version of the handbook “Europa fördert Kul¬tur“. In cooperation with the German Foreign Ministry, the Federal Chancellery launched an electronic version of the handbook on cultural promotion previously available only as a hardcopy, said Morak. The comprehensive reference work, which is now available online, lists numerous EU programmes not specifically dedicated to culture but still offering support for European cultural projects under certain conditions. The Society for Cultural Policy (Kulturpolitische Gesellschaft) in Germany and the Austrian Cultural Documentation Centre (Österreichische Kulturdo¬kumentation) are implementing a joint project. The website offers cultural creators, cultural institutions, authorities and institutes access to about 80 EU programmes, actions and campaigns. ■

The Austrian children’s and juvenile book prizes 2004 will be awarded by Secretary of State Morak at “Forum Kloster“ in Gleisdorf (Styria) on 18 June 2004. Simultaneously “celebrations for young readers” will be held in literature centres and bookshops all over Austria. From a total of 92 participating works, an expert jury selected the following prize-winning books: the children’s book prize 2004 goes to Vincent Cuvellier, Candice Hayat and Sigrid Laube for “Die Busfahrerin“ (publisher: Jungbrunnen); to Toon Tellegen, Gerda Dendooven and Mirjam Pressler for “Doktor Deter“ (NÖ Pressehaus/NP Buchverlag); to Adelheid Dahimène for “Spezialeinheit Kreiner“ (NÖ Pressehaus/NP Buchverlag) as well as to Lilly Axster and Christine Aebi for “Wenn ich groß bin, will ich fraulen¬zen“ (Empirie Verlag). Verena Ballhaus receives the prize for illustration 2004 for the picture book “Meine Füße sind der Rollstuhl“ by Franz-Joseph Huainigg (Annette Betz Verlag). The translator’s prize 2004 has been awarded to Ingrid Weixel¬baumer for her translation of Judith Chris¬tine Mills’ “Das Geheimnis der verschwundenen Schriftrolle“ (dtv). Five additional books were included in the “list of honour 2004”. Franz Morak, who is firmly committed to the needs of younger readers and the support of children and youth literature, stated: “It is important that we promote the medium book, literature for young readers and the right of these readers to quality, i.e. a literature that fascinates, enthuses and convinces young people and shows what stories, novels and poems can achieve compared to other media“. ■

The Institute for Pathophysiology of Innsbruck Medical University, the Institute for Vascular Biology of Vienna’s Medical University as well as the enterprise Technoclone GmbH (Vienna) are participants in the recently launched “European Vascular Genomics Net¬work“ (EVGN). This first “network of excellence“ in the field of cardiac and circulatory diseases is supported by the EU. The EVGN was founded in 2004 to establish an interface between basic and clinical researchers and to promote the dissemination of knowledge in the field of vascular biology with a view to improving the diagnosis and treatment of cardiac, circulatory and vascular diseases. Annually more than 5 million people die from these diseases – the leading cause of death in Europe. Cardiac infarctions and apoplectic fits, which are predominantly due to atheroscle¬rosis, account for 80 % of the cases of death caused by cardiac, circulatory and vascular diseases. The EVGN is headed by a consortium consisting of 15 leading European scientists in the field of vascular biology and coordinated by Dr. Alain Tedgui (Inserm/Paris). University professor Dr. Bernd Binder of the Institute for Vascular Biology of Vienna Medical University comments on the Austrian partners: “We investigate the mechanisms causing acute thromboses. The group in Innsbruck does research on gene expression patterns in atherosclerosis, and Technoclone explores new options of diagnosis and therapy“. ■

On the occasion of its 25th anniversary, the Linz-based Ars Electronica Festival is presenting itself for the first time in the USA. The exhibition “Digital Avant-garde“ is on show in New York until 18 July 2004 and offers an overview of digital art. Since 1987 28,000 projects of 19,000 artists from 87 countries have competed for the Prix Ars Electronica. The prize-winning projects of two decades are exhibited jointly for the first time (with the friendly support of the sponsor SAP) at the New York “Museum of the Moving Image“ and the “Eyebeam“ gallery. The show is accompanied by a symposium at the Austrian Cultural Forum and demonstrates that innovative artistic ideas have not been overtaken by technological development in a virtual space moving at a frantic pace. ■

The Viennese Hans Hollein, a leading architect of post-modernism, has been awarded the Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize in New York for his “significant contribution to architecture as an art”. ■

The Leopold Museum in Vienna’s Museums¬Quartier shows until 20 September 2004 the great series of etchings of Francisco de Goya (1746-1828), Spain’s most important artist at the turn of the 18th to the 19th century. Four completely preserved etching series in their first edition comprising a total of 228 sheets can now be admired in Vienna: “Los Caprichos“, “Los Desastres de la Guerra“, “La Tauromaquia“ and “Los Proverbios“ (“Los Disparates“), including “etchings based on paintings by Velázquez“ from his early oeuvre. The first editions of Goya’s etchings are loans from the Stadtmuseum Oldenburg (the patron of the art Theodor Francksen had acquired them in 1908). The great artist ventured with his work into a dangerous zone of political and ecclesiastical power, and went into exile to France as an old man, where he died at the age of 82 in Bordeaux. Goya came to have a lasting impact on modern art. Expressionism and surrealism reflect his impact. Artists like Klinger, Kubin and Ensor praised Goya as an important source of inspiration. ■

Lower Austria’s “Glatt&Verkehrt“ festival held in Krems and surroundings (e.g. Spitz, Stift Göttweig) from 23 July to 1 August is a magnet for friends of folk and world music. Very different forms and styles clash but any differences are usually settled wonderfully by making music together. Among the performers are Nouvelle Cuisine & Trachtenkapelle Rossatz (Austria), Ensemble David Yengibarjan & Frank London (Armenia, Hungary, USA), Frigg (Finland, Norway), Susheela Raman (India/UK), Warsaw Village Band (Poland). The symposium of the Danube University Krems is titled “Music and Trance“. The ORF (Ö1 radio) will broadcast all concerts. ■

“From sickness-oriented to health-oriented insurance institutions“, is the motto of Secretary of State for Sports Karl Schweitzer. The aim of his “Fit for Austria“ campaign is to bring about a re-orientation towards prevention and a better health status in all age groups. Modern preventive measures are considered to have an enormous savings potential. “Regular physical activities, i.e. doing exercises and practising sports, enhance the general wellbeing and noticeably improve our quality of life“, emphasised the Secretary of State for Sports, who is very sporty himself.
One of the most important objectives in practising lifelong sports is to preserve mobility in old age. The concept “Fit for 50 plus“ focuses on the preservation and/or restoration of the security of movement in daily life. Under the motto “healthy and fit – mobile in all walks of life – agile in very old age“, a “mobility bus” of the Secretariat of State for Sports, organised in cooperation with Postbus AG and Intersport, will tour Austria and offer the 50plus generation free mobility and fitness checks tailored to the needs of this age group. The tour will start in Graz on 12 June 2004. The offer comprises a “mobility track” for determining the coordination capacity as well as medical check-ups (heart, circulation, cholesterol, free radicals) with tailored services and sport-scientific counselling. There is also an opportunity to test Nordic walking, Thera-bands, soft balls and to enjoy dance and music. ■

After the successful project kick-off in Burgenland and sites in Salzburg and Tyrol in 2003, the “Sport¬Kids“ project has now been introduced at the primary school of Hohenems (Vor¬arlberg). The project’s aim is to prevent postural anomalies and overweight in our youngest also in Austria’s westernmost province, and ultimately ease the strain on the national health system. It offers also an excellent opportunity to intensify cooperation between kindergartens/schools and sports associations. “I regard sport as a service provider to the health system”, explained Secretary of State for Sports Karl Schweitzer. In the framework of the “Fit for Austria“ campaign, sport programmes for all groups of society are promoted. An important tool are measures to raise the awareness, especially of the youngest. “Children should be motivated to practise sports on their own initiative at an early age. This will help to avoid medical costs in the future that place an excessive burden on the health insurance institutions”, stated Schweitzer.
In the framework of the “SportKids“ programme, carers trained in sport pedagogy test the motoricity talents of children between four and seven years. Information about their jump ability, balance and reactivity can be obtained with easy exercises such as long jump from a standing position or balancing on one leg. In a counselling session the parents are then informed about the talents or shortcomings of their offspring, and voluntary sport classes outside daily kindergarten and school education are offered. ■

At the FIS congress in Miami, Schladming was not selected to host the alpine ski world championship 2009. Now hopes are pinned on 2011. The award went to Val d´Isere. After 47 years, this is the second time a French winter resort will be the host (Chamonix in 1962). Since this was Schladming’s first application since 1982 and as a world championship had been held in Austria (St. Anton) only in 2001, the disappointment was not too profound. President of the Austrian Ski Association (ÖSV) Peter Schröcksnadel had been firmly convinced that Austria would be victorious in the competition. “But our result is very honourable. Now we have more motivation and hope for the next time“. ■