The EU-LAC summit ended in Vienna on 13 May 2006. The aim of the previous meetings had been to move ahead with free trade. The EU-LAC process had been called into life in Rio de Janeiro in 1999. Both sides were striving for a “strategic partnership“. The Mercosur states (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and the associated members Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Columbia, Ecuador) planned to gradually create a free-trade area with the EU from 2001 onwards. Positions on trade and other issues like drugs, terrorism, human rights were laid down in the “Rio Declaration“. The special case of Cuba has been supported by the EU through NGO projects. At the Madrid summit in 2002 no definitive settlement between the EU and the majority of the Latin American states had been reached regarding a free trade agreement. Mexico and Chile remain exceptions. In the “Madrid Declaration”, “unilateralism” in the international trade system had been criticised, i.e. unilateral action with no regard for the needs of the partners. Free trade was again the key topic at the summit in Guadalajara (Mexico) in 2004, in which also the new EU Member States participated and where the four large national economies Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Chile wanted to strengthen ties with the EU. The EU and Latin America account for six of the ten largest national economies of the world. After the USA, the EU is the second largest trading partner of Latin America.
Never before had the leaders of Europe and Latin America gathered in such a big meeting as in Vienna – probably the most important political summit since the Congress of Vienna (18 September 1814 to 9 June 1815). The participants were the heads of state and/or government of the 25 EU Member States, the candidate countries Romania and Bulgaria as well as their 33 counterparts from Latin America and the Caribbean. Croatia and Turkey had observer status at the level of prime ministers. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan joined an EU-LAC summit for the first time.
Among the attendees were also the foreign ministers and numerous ministers for economic affairs. About 1,200 delegates and an equal number of reporters were also present. Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik opened the Vienna summit with a programmatic statement: “Partnership is the key term”. She stressed the good cooperation in human rights and in UN peace-keeping missions. Argentinean and Chilean soldiers participated in missions in the Balkans (Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as Kosovo), while the EU had been active in election observing in Haiti. So far no breakthrough had been achieved in reaching free trade agreements with Mercosur. As far as the Andean Community was concerned, the Latin American states had to reach an agreement “how they themselves wanted to proceed”.
EU Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner underlined that both sides were prepared to “promote strategic association” and welcomed the fact hat the EU could start association negotiations with Central America.
According to Chancellor Schüssel, one of the most important results of the summit was that it had given ample opportunity for bilateral talks, hundreds of which had taken place among the heads of state and government of Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe. “The EU-LAC economic summit agreed on the common objective of doubling trade and investments in the next five years”, said Schüssel. ■

The alternative summit “Enlazando Alternativas 2“ was held in parallel to the EU-LAC summit (ending also on 13 May 2006). It was organised by journalist and anthropologist Leo Gabriel, who has headed the Ludwig-Boltzmann Institute for Latin American Research in Vienna for 20 years. Its aim was to strengthen the network of social movements. At Arena in Vienna Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Aleida Guevara, a Cuban paediatrician and Che Guevara’s daughter, held discussions with 5,000 people. At the NGO summit in Vienna’s Stadthalle Chávez and Bolivian President Evo Morales addressed more than 1,500 people, who had previously called for “solidarity with the social movements of Latin America” in a demonstration starting at Heldenplatz. Federal Chancellor Schüssel said “we should take the commitment of the participants in that summit also very seriously”. ■

To implement the EU-Africa strategy adopted in December 2005, a meeting of the foreign ministers of the EU Troika with their African counterparts was held on 8 May 2006. Besides Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik, her colleague from Congo, Rodolphe Adada, who is currently chairing the African Union, Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol as well as the African Union’s Commissioners Maxwell Mkwezalamba (Economic Affairs) and Said Djinnit (Peace and Security) participated. Furthermore, EU Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid Louis Michel, Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja as well as George Ajonye representing the Nigerian Foreign Minister were present. The subjects covered were democracy, development, ecological sustainability, human rights, trade, social cohesion and migration. Discussed were approaches to solutions for trouble spots like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad and Uganda. The current situation in Sudan was the top item on the agenda. Plassnik stressed that the EU had “acknowledged the peace agreement with Darfur with great hope“. “The African Union and the EU are also partners in striving for peace, democracy and development. The EU supports the African Union (AU) as well as its mediation efforts and peace missions such as in Darfur“. As the peace accord between the Sudanese government and the largest rebel organisation “Sudan Liberation Movement“ (SLM) had not been signed by all rebel groups in the Nigerian capital Abuja, Foreign Minister and incumbent EU Council President Plassnik appealed to the remaining groups “to agree to the peace accord as well” and requested all parties involved to implement it speedily. The EU was a partner for peace, democracy and development to AU and offered financial support for these goals.
In a three-year civil war between the militias of Arab origin and the black African population in the Darfur crisis region at least 180,000 people have been killed and two million people have been displaced.
According to EU Special Representative for Sudan Pekka Haavisto, a UN mission had become possible thanks to this peace accord. However, for the 7,000 soldiers of AU this mission was a “mission impossible“. A contingent three times as large would be required, which should come predominantly from Africa. ■

The first security dialogue meeting between the EU, the USA and Russia had taken place during the Austrian EU Council Presidency in Vienna on 4 May 2006. Among the participants of the meeting were US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, US Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Michael Jackson, EU Commissioner for Justice Franco Frattini and Viktor Ivanov, Aide to the Russian President. The agenda of the summit included discussions on the combat against international terrorism, organised crime, trafficking in narcotics and human beings as well as illegal migration. As the host, Austrian Minister of the Interior Liese Prokop, emphasised, these problems required global responses. Other subjects addressed were US human rights violations such as in the US prison camp in Guantanamo. US Attorney General Gonzales explained that the USA was a leading nation in the protection of human rights.
During the German EU Council Presidency in the first six months of 2007, a first formal meeting of ministers is planned. In the preliminaries recommendations for the ministers are to be drafted at expert level. ■

Austrian Federal Chancellor and President in office of the European Council Wolf¬gang Schüssel recently received Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg. The topic of the working meeting was the development of a future EU energy policy. 30% of the gas imports and more than 20% of the oil imports of the EU came from Norway, Europe’s second largest energy supplier. Other items on the agenda were multilateral affairs as well as UN issues. Stoltenberg expressed his concern about the development in the nuclear conflict with Iran and underlined the role of the UN in de-escalating the conflict. ■

Parallel to the meeting of the EU-LAC heads of state and government, the “EU-LAC Business Sum¬mit“ was held at Belvedere Palace in Vienna on 12 May 2006, in which the competent ministers and economic experts from abut 60 states participated. Thus Austria also hosted the most important bi-regional economic conference of its EU Council Presidency and offered the countries of Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean an excellent forum for exploring issues of relevance to the economy. In addition, the Austrian Economic Chamber (WKO) organised a network partners’ meeting for small and medium-sized companies of the regions concerned as well as a special forum for Mexico and Brazil.
The main goals of the economic summit were to promote bilateral trade relations, direct investment and new business opportunities.
The trade balance of the 25 EU Member States with Latin America is not very satisfactory. While a surplus of 8.5 billion euro had been achieved still in 1999, trade of the EU-25 with the 33 Latin American countries registered a deficit of 9.1 billion euro in 2005. EUROSTAT published these figures on 11 May 2006 on the occasion of the EU-LAC meeting.
On the contrary, Austria recorded a trade balance surplus with the Latin American countries both in 2005 and in 1999. In 2005 exports amounted to more than 1 billion euro (1999: 637 million), while imports totalled 483 million (1999: 202 million).
In 2005 the LAC countries accounted for only 5.6% of the total external trade of the EU-25. Half of the exports to the LAC countries consisted in ships, motor vehicles and vehicle components, aircraft and medication. The main goods imported were crude oil, copper, coffee, soybeans, iron ore and bananas. The EU’s most important exporter to the LAC countries was Germany (29% of the total exports). The most important country of origin of imports from the LAC was Brazil with 34%. ■

The plans for a new Austrian energy giant are becoming more concrete. As officially confirmed on 8 May 2006, the listed oil and gas group OMV, the number one in Central Europe, considered a take-over offer to Austria’s leading listed electricity producer Verbund. The planned merger of OMV and Verbund would be the largest take-over involving an Austrian enterprise. The transaction volume of about 13 billion euro of this deal corresponds to the total of the three next biggest take-overs. The so far second largest transaction involving an Austrian enterprise was the take-over of Bank Austria Creditanstalt (BA-CA) by the Munich-based Hypo Vereinbank (HVB) worth 7.1 billion euro in 2000. In 2005 a 3.75-billion-euro investment was made in the Romanian Banca Commerciala Romana (BCR) by Erste Bank. With a total of 1.9 billion euro, the take-over of BBAG by the Dutch brewery group Heineken in 2003 ranked fourth.■

The rescue package for the trade union bank BAWAG facing a crash after the speculation debacle in the Caribbean and the Refco bankruptcy was adopted unanimously in a special session of the first chamber of Parliament on 8 May 2006. The federal government agreed to grant a guarantee of a maximum of 900 million euro. The owner, the Austrian Federation of Trade Unions (Österreichischer Gewerk¬schaftsbund/ÖGB), will be held liable up to the insolvency threshold. The guarantee will basically remain in force until 1 July 2007 but can be renewed if required by BAWAG for financial reasons or if necessary to ensure a durable recovery.
The counter-deal for the federal government guarantee stipulates that the Federation of Trade Unions has to disclose its assets, including the Strike Fund, by 31 May 2006 and that the federal government will take over 20% of the National Bank shares of ÖGB and BAWAG. The European Commission confirmed the notification of the BAWAG rescue package in Brussels. Chancellor Schüssel explicitly welcomed the agreement to save the trade union bank but at the same time requested that the case had to “be cleared up comprehensively” to restore the confidence of customers, savers, taxpayers and international markets. ■

On the occasion of the EU/Latin America & the Caribbean (EU-LAC) summit ending in Vienna on 13 May 2006 and being one of the highlights of the Austrian EU Council Presidency, numerous fascinating festivals, conferences and symposiums are offered in Austria. “Onda Latina“ – the first Austria-wide Latin American festival with a wide cultural programme – aims for example at presenting social realities and differentiated images of Latin America and the Caribbean to a large audience (until 4 June 2006). The festival encompasses music, visual arts, literature, science, children’s and youth culture. It was realised with the support of the Austrian Development Cooperation (Österreich-ische Entwicklungszusammenarbeit /OEZA), the Federal Chancellery/Department for Art, the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Culture (BM:BWK), the Culture Department of the City of Vienna and the Vienna Labour Market Service.
On 18 May 2006, the Spanish Cultural Institute “Instituto Cervantes” in Vienna stages a seminar on “Christopher Columbus and his era“ to mark the 500th anniversary of the discoverer’s death. Some of the most eminent experts will discuss his life and epoch. The Instituto also hosts the exhibition “En las fronteras“ (“On the Borders. New Art from Latin America“) until 10 June 2006, with representative works from the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Latin American Art in Badajoz (Spain).
On the occasion of the exhibition opening “Adolfo Winternitz. An Austrian in Peru“, on 17 May 2006 the collo¬quium “Exile in South America” is held at Vienna’s Museum Leopold. Adolfo Winternitz was born in Vienna in 1806, studied at the Academy of Arts and emigrated to Peru in 1939. Still in the same year, he founded the Faculty of Visual Arts at the Catholic University in Lima, of which he was the artistic and pedagogical head for more than 50 years. He became a key figure for many artists in Peru. His artistic background is Neorealism, later he dedicated himself increasingly to abstract painting and religious motifs. He also became famous for his art works with concrete and lead glass windows. The show was created in close cooperation with the Catholic University and the Institute for North America Studies in Lima.
The Vienna Architecture Centre shows (until 22 May 2006) the exhibition “The Unknown Loos: Walter“ about the architect, furniture designer, bohemian and emigrant Walter Loos (1905-1974). His estate has been owned by the Architecture Centre since 2003. His rare buildings in Austria and Argentina are among the most interesting of his era. He probably fell into oblivion because he did not erect any public buildings, did not author any theoretical writings and disappeared from public awareness in Austria after his emigration to Argentina in 1940. The exhibition is rounded off with an overview of Austrians working as architects in different Latin American countries after their emigration (Paraíso Latinoamericano).
The Essl Collection in Klosterneuburg near Vienna mounts an exhibition of new acquisitions of contemporary Mexican artists “MEX 1995-2005“ (open until 18 May 2006).
The Vienna Technical Museum shows the finds of the “Chachapoyas“ (Laguna de los Cóndo¬res) from the Centro Mallqui in Leymebamba in the Amazon region of Peru, complemented by artefacts from the Vienna Museum of Ethnology. The exhibition ending on 30 July 2006 is titled “The Secret of the Chachapoya-Inca People. A Scientific Approach“. ■

After 1886 a piece of furniture became indispensable for Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytical work. Hence, “The Couch. Thinking in Repose“ is the title of an exhibition at Vienna’s Freud Museum running until 5 November 2006. Freud himself never used the term “Couch“ (“couch”) but “Diwan” or “Ruhebett” (“divan“ or “settee“). The originally English term “couch” became a psychoanalytical term only after reception of Freud’s theory in the Anglo-Saxon area. As curator Lydia Marinelli explained, this piece of furniture did not impose “any clear position” between sitting and lying but “induced the patient to lose control”. The repose position was close to dreaming and sleeping and evoked sexual associations – central elements of psychoanalysis. Sigmund Freud’s famous original divan is not on display. When Freud fled from the Nazis in 1938 he took it with him to London, where it forms part of the national cultural heritage and is forbidden to leave Great Britain. The special exhibition of the Freud Museum in Vienna presents a sculpture by Rachel Whiteread, photos of Andy Warhol on the red couch of his factory in New York, surrealistic dream images by Man Ray, Spencer Finch and Max Ernst, as well as a photo documentation on couches in the practices of psychoanalysts of the US West Coast. Prints of the 19th century show prostitutes, who with intimate talks and actions helped bourgeois men to lose moral control.
As Inge Scholz-Strasser, director of the Museum, explained, the City of Vienna had transferred the entire building at Berggasse 19 to the Freud Private Foundation on 1 May 2006. Other projects planned for 2006 were the poster exhibition “Paths to the Unconscious“ in Vienna’s city centre and a symposium at Albertina about Mozart and Freud titled “Batti batti, o bel Masetto“ (“Beat me, oh lovely Masetto”), where psychoanalytical interpretation shows that Mozart’s female characters could be seen as predecessors of Freud’s hysterics. ■

Franz Liszt (1811-1886) was born in the village of Raiding (Burgenland) close to the Hungarian border. Liszt was a brilliant revolutionary, who introduced new dimensions in the piano playing technique and drove his audience into a state of ecstasy. In his more than 700 works that were stylistically close to French Romanticism he produced novel effects with the piano and extended the range of musical language. On 15 October 2006 a new concert hall designed by the Dutch architects Kempe Thill for an audience of 570 will be inaugurated in Raiding next to the house where Liszt was born. On the same day the first Liszt festival “Liszten in Raiding“ will be kicked off. It offers a spectacular programme with the piano duos Eduard & Johannes Kutrowatz, Ferhan & Ferzan Önder, with mezzo-soprano Angelika Kirchschlager and with cellist Mischa Maisky and ends with a piano recital by Oleg Maisenberg on 22 October 2006. The “European pope of acoustics”, Karlheinz Müller from Munich, had provided acoustic consulting services for the cool and elegant concert hall. In the future the world’s elite musicians will participate in the international concert festival in Raiding. ■

In Helsinki the Finnish State Prize 2006 for Translation was awarded to Jukka-Pekka Pajunen (aged 45) for translating the novel “The Piano Teacher“ (“Pianonsoittaja“) by Elfriede Jelinek into Finnish. The decision of the jury was based on the fact that the translator had had to cope with extraordinary linguistic challenges and had displayed a “comprehensive capacity for cultural understanding”. Pajunen had succeeded in impressively conveying the “cool attitude to the world” of the novel by the Literary Nobel Prize Laureate 2004. “The hurtful story about the pianist giving rise to a wealth of interpretations has been processed in a unique way for reception by the Finnish readers“. ■

On 8 May 2006 the International Erich Fried Society for Literature and Language announced that based on the decision of this year’s sole juror Michael Krüger the Erich Fried Prize 2006 would go to German author Marcel Beyer (born in Württemberg in 1965). Krüger explained that Beyer’s highly sophisticated texts presented and analysed historical and contemporary material. Especially the volume of poems “Erdkunde“ showed “Marcel Beyer’s mastery in depicting the central reality in a poem without coming to hasty conclusions“. Other well known works of the poet are his novel “Flughunde“ (English translation: “The Karnau Tapes”) and the volume of poetry “Falsches Futter“. As an editor he was also responsible for the collection of poems (“Gesammelte Gedichte“) of the great Austrian lyric poet Friederike Mayröcker.
The Fried Prize is granted by the Austrian Federal Chancellery in commemoration of the poet, narrator and translator Erich Fried (1921-1988). The prize winner is selected by a juror, who is appointed by a panel every year. The previous award winner was also from Germany: Yaak Karsunke (“Toter Mann“). ■

The Republic of Austria has granted the Children’s and Youth Book Prize for outstanding books for children and young people for more than 50 years. As Franz Morak, Secretary of State for Art and Media, explained at the awards ceremony 2006, many of these books had become classics and longsellers, e.g. “Das kleine Ich bin ich“ by Mira Lobe and Susi Weigel or “Rosa Riedl, Schutzgespenst“ by Astrid Lindgren Prize winner Christine Nöstlinger. Out of 69 books submitted, this year four prize-winning books were selected and an additional 10 were included in the Prize Collection, which were authored by Linda Wolfsgruber, Lilly Axster, Christine Aebi, Rachel van Kooij, Elke Krasny, Sybille Hein, Moidi Kretschmann, Jens Rassmus, Jutta Treiber, Susanne Eisermann, Franz Zauleck, Silke Leffler, Ursula Poznanski, Monika Pelz, Reinhold Ziegler, Vincent Cuvellier and Heinz Janisch (with his lyric poetry volume “Heute will ich langsam sein“).
On 2 May 2006, Janisch had also received the State Prize for Poetry for Children 2005 from Secretary of State Morak. The author enthralling both children and adults showed “in his books what was possible in a poem for young readers”. As Morak also stated, this special form of poetry – e.g. narrative poems, children’s songs, lullaby poems, wordplays – did not get the much deserved social recognition “despite the excellent works by authors writing for children”. Therefore state prizes for extraordinary literary achievements in this genre were of utmost importance. The aim of the Austrian State Prize for Children’s Poetry is to pay homage to important authors of children’s poetry and reach an audience beyond the children’s department in bookstores. ■

Martin Salzer was awarded the Prize 2006 of the Heinrich Treichl Foundation for humanitarian achievements on 11 May 2006. For more than 10 years, the medical doctor and university professor has dedicated himself to the sick and disabled in South Eastern Europe and Africa in his capacity as the President of the organisation “Austrian Doctors for the Disabled“. The prize was conferred by the Red Cross. Salzer healed hundreds of persons in the regions affected with operations and treatments based on Western standards. Besides the medical doctor, two journalists of the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) – Bettina Roither, head of the radio’s foreign policy department, and Brigitte Handlos, boss of the regional news department – received awards for their long-term commitment to people in need and the socially weak as well as for reporting on relief organisations. ■

Kunsthalle Wien shows the exhibition “Summer of Love. Psychedelic Art of the 1960s“ (until 17 September 2006). This art movement was inseparable from protest culture and counter-culture, the ecstatic rock music of the 1960s and early 1970s. It strove to reflect a new, higher level of awareness. “Sum¬mer of Love“ has been designed by the Tate Liverpool in cooperation with Kunsthalle Wien and Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt. It presents paintings, photography, film, architecture, light shows, environments, posters, record covers and documentary material from Europe, the USA, Latin America and Japan. A special section on Austria (curators: Markus Mittringer, Angela Stief) gives insight into the events of that time and the aesthetics of the 1960s in Austria. The architecture scene was revolutionised – Coop Him¬melb(l)au, Hans Hollein, Haus-Rucker-Co and Walter Pichler were to triumph internationally. The painters who had attacked the establishment soon formed part of the establishment in the creative arena: Alfons Schilling, Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Max Peintner and Arnulf Rainer, who also experimented with drugs to explore the borders of consciousness. Timothy Leary was the star of the era. “Born to be wild“ was the maxim. ■

Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazon, the Russian-Mexican dream couple on the opera stage, drew enthusiastic cheers in the premiere of Gounod’s “Romeo et Juliette“ at Vienna State Opera on 10 May 2006. Performances: 17, 21, 25 May 2006. ■

“Training coordination“ is the title of the new DVD presented by Secretary of State for Sport Karl Schweitzer and the Südstadt Centre for Austrian Elite Sport in Maria Enzersdorf. “Good coordination is not an innate ability but you can learn, strengthen and develop it. The earlier this learning process starts the better. Coordination skills acquired in childhood are the ideal tools of the trade for the elite athletes of the future“, stated Schweitzer. Alexander Dubisar and Richard Sobota described the goals of their very practice-oriented instruction DVD including numerous video clips and more than 220 exercises. The DVD is divided into the sections orientation, differentiation, balance, reaction and rhythmic training. Its aim is to create some understanding for structured movements and promote creativity. Secretary of State Schweitzer was enthusiastic about the innovative concept: “This DVD ideally rounds off the daily training units. I can recommend it warmly to all trainers of young talents and instructors in sports. The DVD presentation was supported by judoka Claudia Heill, swimming trainer Robert Michlmayr and tennis coach Gilbert Schaller. ■

“Great athletic achievements with a great track record, a great ladies’ race and a great Austrian record. And what’s more, there was a highly dramatic half marathon race“, organiser Wolfgang Konrad stated proudly. At the 23rd Vienna City Marathon 23,961 runners participated in different races. Record participation numbers were registered above all in the relay races, the half marathon and the children’s races. The track-and-field event with Austria’s highest participation rate reaped a profit of about 15 million euro (almost 40,000 hotel nights) and is therefore also of great economic importance for Vienna. Running her marathon debut, Susanne Pumper broke the Austrian record in 2:32:21. The new Vienna City Marathon record was set by Lahoucine Mrikik from Morocco in 2:08:20. According to the organisers, the mix between running and classical music also proved very successful in the Mozart Year 2006. At critical points of the marathon course the runners were inspired and stimulated by Mozart’s music. Secretary of State for Sport Schweitzer, himself an enthusiastic marathon runner, was ranked third together with Susanne Pumper, Diana Undeutsch and Stefan Matschiner in the mixed relay race. ■

After La Rochelle, Dubai and Marseilles, the 4th ISAF World Sailing Games were opened in the presence of Secretary of State for Sport Schweitzer, Governor of Burgenland Hans Niessl, the President of the International Sailing Federation, Göran Petersson, and the President of the Austrian Sailing Association, Clemens Kellner, in Strandbad Neusiedl (Burgenland). Medals are awarded for competitions in eight sailing boat types held in Podersorf, Weiden, Neusiedl, Breitenbrunn and Rust from 10 to 20 May 2006. In addition to the sailing competitions, the visitors are also offered cultural highlights such as the international reed symposium, the first Austrian sand sculpture festival or the boat and leisure fair. ■

785 health-oriented exercise programmes have received awards in the framework of the “Fit for Austria” campaign. “In times of an increasing lack of physical exercise and an inverse age pyramid it is indispensable to attach greater priority to health-oriented exercise programmes in the next few years”, stated Secretary of State Schweitzer. ■