In the presence of numerous members of the government headed by Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel and Vice-Chancellor Hubert Gorbach, the two Houses of the Austrian Parliament commemorated the victims of National Socialism in Parliament on 5 May 2004. This year’s traditional joint celebration was dedicated to the Roma and Sinti, who have been recognised as an ethnic group in Austria since December 1993.
President of the Nationalrat (Lower House) Andreas Khol reminded of the fact that a maximum of 2,000 out of a total of 11,000 members of this ethnic group living in Austria in the Nazi era survived the NS annihilation policy. Although some progress had been made, unequal treatment was de facto persisting. However, it was a positive development that Austria had been the first EU member to officially recognise the Roma and Sinti as an ethnic minority and “to stop discrimination at least in legal terms”, said Khol. Rudolf Sarközi, Chairman of the Cultural Association of Austrian Roma, appealed to the EU to create better living conditions for this ethnic group.
On 5 May 1945 the Mauthausen concentration camp was liberated. In Austria 5 May has been a remembrance day against violence and racism since 1998. ■

On 9 May 2004 at the 59th anniversary celebration of the liberation of the Mauthausen concentration camp (May 1945), survivors and young people addressed high-ranking representatives of the political arena, economy, culture and Church. The second part of the pupils’ programme “A Letter to the Stars“ focused on the documentation of the biographies of Austrian survivors of the Holocaust still alive. The visitors’ centre for the Mauthausen branch in Gusen was inaugurated as well. ■

The 59th anniversary celebrations of the Second Republic spotlighted EU enlargement on 1 May. It made Europe a “continent of peace”, explained Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel at the extraordinary session of the Council of Ministers on 27 April 2004.
On 27 April 1945 Austria had been on the eve of peace and now the country was on the eve of EU enlargement guaranteeing a lasting peace, stated Schüssel. “In Austria we prepared enlargement well! We have taken seriously many concerns and responded in a concrete way! We have created framework conditions, e.g. by carefully setting transition periods, to avoid excessive burdens on individuals and to make it easier to grow together“, said the Federal Chancellor. However, it was also important to finally prioritise crucial matters. Europe had to give “answers to problems of a European dimension” and at the same time take seriously the concerns of the citizens “if for example our natural resources, e.g. our water, are at stake. Europe must not be a high-flown, elitist political and societal project“, stressed Schüssel. ■

After the Council of Ministers’ session on 27 April 2004, Chancellor Schüssel commented on the federal government’s labour market reform: “We presented a comprehensive law with improved rules regarding the acceptability of employment offers. The package is well aimed and socially balanced“, explained the Chancellor.
This is another step to reduce the placing period from currently 103 to 90 days. At the same time the Act on Youth Education has been renewed for two years to safeguard training places for school-leavers. Schüssel also pointed out that according to the EU spring forecast Austria was expected to boast the EU’s lowest unemployment rate (4.5%). ■

With the votes of the governing coalition of the People’s Party (ÖVP) and Freedom Party (FPÖ), the Lower House of Parliament adopted a tax relief programme totalling 2.53 billion euro on 6 May 2004. The key data: reduction of the corporation income tax from 34 to 25%, group taxation, new rules on wages and income tax rates as from 2005. ■

Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel started his tour of state visits to the new EU Member States in Malta’s capital Valletta on 7 May 2004, where he met with President Edward Fenech Adami and Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi. Their talks focused on EU enlargement, issues concerning the future EU Constitution and the elections to the European Parliament on 13 June 2004.
After the talks, Schüssel highlighted once more that EU enlargement was “the European peace project” and expressed his relief that despite some scepticism vis-à-vis the EU the pro-European policy had finally prevailed in the island state. With its extreme geopolitical position, Malta was adding a new dimension to the EU. Schüssel expressed his wish to support Prime Minister Gonzi’s request for at least six seats in the future EU Parliament. In general, the Federal Chancellor had found Vienna and Valletta to be in complete accord about numerous positions on EU policies, the Chancellor’s spokeswoman Verena Nowotny told the Austrian Press Agency (APA).
The two heads of government described the bilateral relations as “excellent”. The Austrian economy was already firmly established in Malta, notably in the banking sector. The cooperation between Vienna Airport and Malta International Airport was also exemplary. According to Schüssel, economic cooperation, e.g. in tourism, would be intensified. To this end, the Chancellor had been accompanied by a business delegation. Secretary General of the Ministry of the Exterior Johannes Kyrle and his counterpart Gaetan Naudi signed a visa agreement between Austria and Malta. ■

During his official visit to Bucharest on 3 May 2004, Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel praised Romania’s efforts to achieve EU standards before accession scheduled for 2007.
The talks with Romanian head of government Adrian Nastase and President Ion Iliescu focused on EU-related and bilateral economic issues. Schüssel was accompanied by an economic delegation headed by Minister of Economic Affairs and Labour Martin Bartenstein.
Romania was making good progress towards European integration. “The government has done a lot to prepare the country for the EU”, said Schüssel and showed understanding for current shortcomings. Romania had lost much time and suffered from a lack of infrastructure under Nicolae Ceaucescu’s dictatorship, stated the Chancellor, who was conferred an important Romanian badge of honour.
Another key issue discussed during the Chancellor’s visit was the planned take-over of Romania’s largest mineral oil group Petrom by the Austrian group OMV. According to Schüssel, this deal was worth “several billion euro”. Nastase referred to an “important offer” by OMV.■

On his way to the opening of the Finnish embassy in the new EU Member State Slovakia, Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen stopped over for a “breakfast meeting” with Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel in Vienna on 10 May 2004.
Among the issues discussed were the respective positions on the future EU Constitution as well as possible candidates for a successor of EU Commission President Romano Prodi. ■

On the occasion of a festive event dedicated to EU enlargement, Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel met with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Slovenian head of government Anton Rop in the “three-country triangle” (Arnoldstein – Tarvisio – Kranjska Gora) on 30 April 2004. Carinthia’s Governor Jörg Haider also participated in the celebration. After the presentation of political speeches, a memorial was unveiled.
Moreover, Schüssel joined in the enlargement celebrations in Bratislava (Slovakia) and Sopron (Hungary) near the Austrian border on 1 May 2004.
Together with Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Medgyessy, he then went on to Dublin, where the main festive event of the Irish EU Presidency was held in the presence of all 25 European heads of state and government. ■

“EU enlargement will undoubtedly provide a stimulus to employment and the economic sector in Austria“, said Minister for Economic Affairs and Labour Martin Bartenstein at the plenary session of Nationalrat (Lower House) on 5 April 2004. Since the opening-up of Eastern Europe in 1989 Austria has benefited from an additional GDP growth of about 6% (about 14 billion euro) and a total of almost 60,000 new jobs. By referring to data of the internationally renowned Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (Wiener Institut für Internationale Wirtschaftsvergleiche, WIIW), Bartenstein claimed that Austria was the main beneficiary of enlargement.
Moreover, various studies had documented integration effects manifesting themselves in higher economic growth (+ 0.42%) in the period 1995 to 2001. “It is by no means exaggerated to say that about 40% of the economic growth of the past years and about 40% of the additional beneficial labour market effects and jobs have been a result of the opening-up of Eastern Europe“, said the Minister for Economic Affairs.
Nevertheless, the concerns of the Austrians should be taken seriously. Special thanks should be given to Federal Chancellor Schüssel and all the others who had contributed to pushing through a transition period of seven years with a view to protecting the domestic labour market.
“Thus Austria has been a winner and will continue to be a winner. There are more than 1,000 international headquarters in Austria with business activities in Eastern Europe. This can be considered a major success for Austria as a location and creates value-added and jobs“, stressed Bartenstein. The federal government supported the locational policy by a tax reform strengthening Austria as a business location (e.g. 25% corporation income tax, group taxation). ■

The monetary wealth formation (acquisition of financial assets) of private households continued at a high level in the fourth quarter 2003, i.e. 3.6 billion euro. Based on preliminary calculations for the capital finance account of the Austrian National Bank (OeNB), the financial investments reached a transaction value of 14 billion euro in the entire year 2003 and thus exceeded the level of 2002 by about 12%. The market value of the financial assets of private households amounting to 303.9 billion euro at the end of 2003 had increased by almost 6% (prior year: 287.6 billion euro). ■

On 26 April 2004 Österreichische Post AG and Deutsche Post announced their future cooperation. The cooperation agreement covered the delivery of individually addressed and unaddressed mass mailings from France, the Netherlands, Belgium, England, Spain, Denmark and Switzerland to Austria. Deutsche Post would launch an advertising campaign in these countries to ensure that mailings to Austria will be handled by Post AG instead of competitors, e.g. the Dutch and French postal services. ■

In Austria 11% (297,000 hectares) of the total agricultural surface are dedicated to biological agriculture. According to an international ranking of the British science journal “Nature“, Austria ranks second after Liechtenstein (26.4%). Worldwide a surface of 24 million hectares is used for biological farming, with an upward tendency.
“We expect an increase in biological agriculture in Austria”, Gerhard Popp, public information officer of the Ministry for Agriculture, told the daily “Wiener Zeitung“. ■

The sales chain Billa belonging to the German Rewe group founded its own airline on 1 May 2004. The new airline “LTU Billa“ will serve with one airplane a total of 19 destinations in the area of Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea and the Atlantic Ocean from Vienna, Salzburg, Linz and Graz, as “Kronen Zeitung” informed on 5 May 2004. One of the reasons for establishing the airline was the enormous growth of ITS-Billa-Reisen. ■

It was probably the most sensational performance of a soloist at Wiener Musikverein for many years: the 61-year-old pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim, who was born in Argentina and lives in Israel, presented his interpretation of all 32 piano sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven – the “New Testament“ of piano literature – within 17 days. Barenboim’s feeling for the structure and the emotional range of the sonatas, but also his marvellously singing piano tone are unique. At the age of seven years the infant prodigy – his parents were piano teachers in Buenos Aires – gave his first public concert. For his Beethoven performance, which was a true tour de force, and merits in the field of music in general Secretary of State for the Arts Franz Morak warded him on behalf of Federal President Thomas Klestil the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science of the First Order directly on the stage. Barenboim – reminiscing about his first visit to Vienna in 1952 – thanked with a declaration of love to the city of music. ■

At a symposium held at Vienna’s Rosenhügel film studios inter alia producers and copyright experts discussed the impact of technological progress and globalisation on the film industry. The US film industry incurs losses of up to 4 billion US dollars annually due to illegal downloads. Therefore, Georgia Tornow, Secretary General of film20, demanded special governmental protection for film productions. The international film producer Jan Mojito expressed his scepticism about a common film market. 80% of national productions never left their country of origin. The European film would not be competitive, e.g. vis-à-vis Hollywood, unless the stories were based on a “common history, culture, sports and language”. Secretary of State for the Arts and Media Morak championed more European co-productions since large-scale productions also meant higher budgets. Efforts of the EU to harmonise copyright legislation were of “crucial significance”. ■

As a prelude to the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Austrian State Treaty, the Austrian Media Library of the Vienna Technical Museum launched a virtual show featuring one hundred sound recordings in April of the jubilee year 2005. Leopold Figl, Julius Raab and Karl Renner are delivered home by pressing a button and the ambience of the 1950s is revived. Besides statements of eminent politicians, contemporary recordings of common people and their thoughts from a present-day perspective are planned to be included. The Austrian Media Library uses inter alia unpublished material from the archives, e.g. recordings of the “Rot-Weiß-Rot“ network, the allied broadcasting station of the US occupation zone. ■

The Austrian State Prize 2003 will go to the painter Siegfried Anzinger (51). It will be conferred on him at the opening of the Albertina exhibition “Siegfried Anzinger. Works on Paper 2001-2004“ on 17 May 2004. The laudatory speech will be delivered by his German colleague Markus Lüpertz. Secretary of State Morak explained that the Arts Senate had decided to give the award to the painter because he “was an important representative of Austria’s visual arts. Anzinger had succeeded in creating a transition to the present and widened the spectrum of his works from the perspective of the Neuen Wilden“. Born in Weyer (Upper Austria) in 1953, Anzinger studied at the Academy of Visual Arts in Vienna from 1971 to 1977. He is considered one of the chief protagonists of “New Painting” established in Austria in the 1980s. He represented Austria at documenta in Kassel already in 1982, and Hans Hollein presented his paintings at the Venice Biennial in 1988. The artist living in Vienna and Cologne has been a professor of painting at the Academy of Arts in Düsseldorf since 1997.
The Great Austrian State Prize is the highest award granted to artists by the Republic of Austria for outstanding merits. It was created by the then Minister of Education Felix Hurdes in 1950 and is awarded based on a proposal by the Austrian Arts Senate for literature, music, visual arts and architecture (without a fixed rotation system). Since 1971 the prize has been awarded only to one person every year. ■

A short biography authored by him reads as follows: “dominik steiger, born in Vienna in 40. Versatile. Poet painter musician, book service handsome. Sundry publications and performances“. Secretary of State for the Arts Morak introduced his statement to the honoured: “In an epoch in which everything is getting faster books and texts such as those of the poetic all-rounder Dominik Steiger allow you to take a holiday from the governing logics and prevailing spirit of the time”. He introduced “his books with subversive irony into the literary life“. Steiger thanked and answered à la carte and asked domestic booksellers to order his books, “pleasure products of his daydreaming work (...), at least once to leaf through them and get to know them“. They should display his books in the shop window for some time, “for example the period between two haircuts”, “possibly with a little red-white-red flag hand-painted by the apprentice“, “this would be cute“ – after all, now millions of Austrians stood behind his prize. The empathic laudatory speech was given by the congenial Anselm Glück. Renate Ganser performed a traditional medley with sparkling wit. Among Dominik Steiger’s wondrous books are “sink um i alle minuti“, “Sinngummis à la minute“ and “Thingummy“. Outstanding works by Glück are for example “innerhalb des gefrierpunktes“ and “ich kann mich nur an jetzt erinnern“. ■

The Austrian writer Elfriede Jelinek (“The Piano Teacher“, “Das Werk“), who inter alia is also a winner of the Büchner Prize, received the 2004 Lessing Prize for Criticism in Wolfenbüttel (Germany). This Prize is awarded every two years by the Lessing Academy. As the jury explained, Jelinek’s oeuvre went beyond traditional social criticism, her writing “was incisive, just like that of Lessing. She takes a position and impresses by independence“. Jelinek showed herself pleased about the Prize, “which is expressly awarded for criticism, criticism in the widest sense“. In her texts she had always tried “to develop an esthetical method for her social criticism”. The enlightener Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781), who authored for example “Minna of Barnhelm“ and “Nathan the Wise“, meant “a lot” to her as a dramatist, she even perceived a kind of dialectical relation: “On one side there is Lessing’s desire for the prevalence of tolerance and reason, often against his better judgement, for he was an enlightener and at the same time a sharp sceptic as far as reason is concerned, and on the other side there is my profound knowledge about the futileness and hopelessness as far as reason is concerned“.
Jelinek selected the Carinthian author Antonio Fian for the junior award associated with the Lessing Prize. This award will be conferred on the author of short stories, novels, short dramas and radio plays born in Klagenfurt in 1956 also in Wolfenbüttel. ■

The Austrian Cultural Forum presents six young composers in London until 16 May 2004: Gabriele Proy, Reinhard Fuchs and Lukas Haselböck (from Austria) as well as Joe Cutler, David Horne and Nick Shardlow (from England). Concerts, installations and discussions will take place at the Cultural Forum, Wigmore Hall and St. Paul’s Church. The event will be rounded off by a Contemporary Composers’ Forum. Among the artists participating are the cellist Richard Harwood, the mezzo-soprano Lore Lixenberg and the pianist Isabel Ettenauer. In addition, compositions by Olga Neuwirth, H. K. Gruber and Peter Maxwell Davies will be presented. The works of the young composers will be performed by students of the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. The series of events is to be continued in November 2004 and 2005. ■

The Austrian Theatre Museum will show the exhibition “Max Reinhardt and Austria – an ambivalent relationship“ until 19 September 2004. Unlike any other director, Reinhardt (1873-1943) succeeded in transforming the European theatre until the 1930s. The Salzburg Festival (e.g. “Jedermann“), the renewal of Theater in der Josefstadt and the foundation of the Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna remain inseparably associated with this personality born in Austria. The show presents photos, manuscripts, prompt books, letters, audiovisual material, stage and costume designs. ■

Ars Electronica is re-designed to support the application of Linz for the title of the “European Capital of Culture” in 2009. The aim is to improve networking with the universities in Linz, with Lentos and OK on the institutional level (and not just on a project basis). The “Prix Ars Electronica 2004“ has been awarded. The Golden Nicas for “Digital Communities“ go to Wikipedia (Netherlands/Uganda) and “The World Starts with Me“ (USA). “The next idea“ scholarship was awarded to students of the Japanese Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences. Ben Rubin and Mark Hansen were the winners in the category “interactive art”, Chris Landreth earned the award for “computer animation/visual effects“. ■

The Baroque dream convent of Melk/Danube (Lower Austria), inspiring Umberto Eco’s novel “In the Name of the Rose“, is the setting of the 2004 Waldzell Meeting on 11 and 12 September 2004. Personalities who excelled in the arts, social policy, science and spirituality, e.g. the author Paulo Coelho, Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi (peace), Günter Blobel (medicine), Kary B. Mullis (chemistry), the psychologist Mihály Csikszentmihályi (Thinker of the Year Award 2000), Carl Djerassi (father of the “pill“), Chief Rabbi David J. Goldberg, baritone Thomas Hampson, Stephan Rechtschaffen (pioneer of the wellness movement, founder of Omega) and the quantum researcher Anton Zeilinger. The speakers will inter alia provide insight into their extraordinary life histories. The meeting will focus on the question of a meaningful life. This is a question not only asked by the individual but increasingly also by enterprises and decision-makers in all areas.
The Waldzell Institute derives its name from Hermann Hesse’s novel “The Glass Bead Game“, in which the school of the glass bead gamblers is called Waldzell and which deals with “the principles of a new language, i.e. a language of signs and formulas, in which mathematics and music have an equal share”. ■

The Haydn House in Eisenstadt (Burgenland) presents the fantastic special exhibition “Deutscher, Kolo, All’Ongarese – Haydn und die Volksmusiken“ dedicated to the relationship of the doyen of the Viennese classical period to the different ethnic groups he had contacts with (on show until 11 November 2004). Thanks to his excellent memory, Joseph Haydn absorbed and internalised the most diverse forms of expression of folk music, e.g. Croatian, Hungarian, Italian, German. Original scores, folks music instruments, original folk costumes and the like provide insight into the multi-facetted spectrum of folk cultures fascinating Haydn. ■

From 19 May to 31 October 2004, Vienna’s Jewish Museum will present the exhibition “Vienna, City of the Jews. The World of Tante Jolesch”, invoked for example by Friedrich Torberg. The show has been curated by Joachim Riedl and organised in cooperation with the Vienna Festival. More than 200,000 Jews lived in Vienna in the First Republic (1918-38). With a share of about 11% in the total population, they constituted Europe’s second biggest Jewish community (after Warsaw). The exhibition based on a fascinating concept documents the wide social spectrum of the last bloom of the Viennese Jewish community – from the poor shtetl Jew to the intellectual elite (e.g. of the Red Vienna) and the salons of the enlightened middleclass. Before the horrors of Holocaust loomed over Vienna, the city was bustling with great intellectual strength – probably never experienced again, and this was also due to the achievements of a Jewish community setting new political, economic, scientific and artistic standards. ■

3 May 2004 – this day was fully dedicated to sport in the St. Nikolaus kindergarten. Following successful projects in Burgenland and Salzburg, another SportKids pilot project was called into life by Secretary of State for Sports Karl Schweitzer, together with Vice-Mayor Michael Bielowski and ÖSV President Peter Schröcksnadel. SportKids addresses children aged four to seven years. In close cooperation with kindergartens and primary schools, day carers trained in sport pedagogy test the children’s motorial talents for sports on site. This makes it possible to train motorial development efficiently and on an individual basis. “Our children and young people suffer from a severe lack of physical activity. Therefore it is ever so important to counteract this unpleasant development in early childhood by exercise programmes tailored to suit the needs of the respective age group”, stated Schweitzer. ■

In the framework of the “Sport and Health Days of Lower Austria”, the Secretariat of State for Sports organised – jointly with the Austrian Federal Sport Organisation (Österreichischen Bundes-Sportorganisation, BSO) and the umbrella associations – the federal congress “Fit for Austria” as well as a meeting on school sport. The aim was to highlight the importance of “physical exercise and sport” in speeches, lectures and discussion rounds and to optimise the existing resources of the federal government, sport organisations, the provincial governments and municipalities. “Regular physical activities by doing exercises and practising sport make life more liveable, keep fit and ensure mobility even in very old age“, stressed Secretary of State for Sports Karl Schweitzer in his introductory remarks.
For the first time representatives of sports, politics, science and the social insurance institutions gathered to lecture about and discuss the preventive effects and significance of “physical exercise and sport“ as well as to take joint measures “to prepare the future of our society in the presence”, as Secretary of State for Health Reinhart Waneck underlined in his keynote speech. A joint effort was made to draw attention to the potential of organised sport in Austria as a service provider in the health system, to take advantage of existing health-promoting potentials and to explore new options of reducing sickness-related costs and the strain on the health system.
The discussions addressed the significance of sport for society (Prof. Weiß, Department for Sport Science), the connection between sport education and lack of physical exercise (Prof. Waneck, Federal Ministry for Health and Women’s Affairs), “sport as a medication“ (Prof. Holdhaus, Institute for Medical and Sport-Scientific Counselling), the enormous health-promoting potential of sport in preventive medicine (Hartinger, Austrian social insurance institution). Views were also exchanged on the “Sport for Health” project currently realised in Germany (Prof. Banzer, Frankfurt/Main). The common goal identified was to offer cost-effective and socially compatible mobility sports of a proven quality. A well aimed quality management of all those involved in sport is necessary to raise the awareness of physical exercise and sport as well as the health status in all age groups. “Is sport healthy? – How can sport make a contribution to health policy?” – this was a subject explored by Karl Schweitzer, Member of Parliament Elmar Lichtenegger, Deputy Governor of Lower Austria Liese Prokop, Beate Hartinger and Prof. Norbert Bachl of the Austrian Institute for Sport Medicine (ÖISM) in a discussion round moderated by Elmar Oberhauser.
To pave the way for sports, parents and teachers should illustrate the importance of physical exercise “by doing it”, the reduction of gym lessons resulting from school autonomy should be reconsidered, schools and associations should cooperate more closely, municipal and provincial authorities should launch joint innovative campaigns and projects, sport organisations and the federal government should offer quality-assured exercise programmes and the social insurance system should offer a bonus system for active people.
This bundle of measures is a way to make all people in Austria aware of the importance of “exercise and sport” to improve their quality of life and to point out that in the discussion about financing the health system one should not forget sport as a competent and supportive partner. ■