Austria’s proposals to implement the Lisbon strategy at national level were adopted on 18 October 2005 in the Council of Ministers, as Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel and Vice-Chancellor Hubert Gorbach informed at the subsequent press conference. The “Austrian reform programme for growth and employment” comprises 112 measures now being reviewed by the European Commission in Brussels.
In this package based on the “financial sustainability of public finances” the federal government proposes powerful stimuli to the labour market, education, research & development as well as environmental technology. 300 million euro have been earmarked for youth employment, being a top priority. Among the measures highlighted by the Chancellor is the “apprenticeship campaign” launched by the government and headed by “apprenticeship officer” Egon Blum. The so-called “Blum premium” had shown “sensational results“. 6,000 companies had registered for this programme subsidising apprenticeship training, stressed Schüssel. With its Lisbon strategy the EU set itself the mid-term goal to become the leading economic region. ■

“The preparations for the Austrian EU Council Presidency are in full swing in all the ministries”, Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik informed the Main Committee of the Nationalrat (1st chamber of Parliament) on 20 October 2005. In the framework of the Austrian Presidency in the first six months of 2006, 150 EU meetings would take place in Austria, half of them at the Hofburg conference centre in Vienna.
The Austrian Council Presidency would focus on four priorities: jobs, economic growth and protecting the European model. Plassnik also stated that it was crucial to strengthen confidence in the project “Europe” and to support the enlargement efforts and foreign policy of the EU in its role “as a partner in the world”.
It has been agreed on to open the first negotiation chapters with Turkey and Croatia under the Austrian Presidency. ■

To intensify the dialogue with the citizens and provide in-depth information on the project of European integration, Austria sets an example and launches a joint initiative of the Federal Chancellery, the Economic Chamber Austria (WKÖ) and the Federation of Industrialists (IV). The “Europe Roadshow“ will bring Europe closer to the citizens. On 13 October 2005 Chancellor Schüssel and WKÖ President Christoph Leitl gave the go-ahead for the “Europe Bus”, which will tour Austria in the next months under the motto “Europe’s coming – please come too”. “It is now indispensable to intensify the dialogue with the citizens and to re-open the European debate”, said Schüssel. ■

The remaining funds of the Austrian Reconciliation Fund responsible for restitution to former NS forced labourers have been re-allocated: 25 million euro are made available for a scholarship foundation, 20 million euro have been earmarked for the “Future Fund“. This decision has been adopted by the Parliament’s Constitutional Committee on 13 October 2005.
The Reconciliation Fund set up in 2000 and endowed with 436 million euro will complete its mission at year-end. 131,578 persons have received restitution payments. ■

Based on the preliminary election results, the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) received 49.03% (+2.12%) of the votes winning once more the absolute majority of seats in the municipal council and regional parliamentary elections in Vienna on 23 October 2005. Polling 18.75% of the votes, the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) achieved the most significant increase in votes (+2.36%). The Freedom Party (FPÖ) and the Greens obtained 14.88% (-5.28%) and 14.67% (+2.22%), respectively. Michael Häupl (SPÖ) remains the governor and mayor of Vienna. The distribution of seats in the Landtag (regional parliament): SPÖ: 55 (+3); ÖVP: 18 (+2); Greens: 14 (+3); FPÖ: 13 (-8). ■

As the future EU Council President Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel met with British Prime Minister and incumbent EU Chairman Tony Blair at the summit of European social partners in London on 19 October 2005. The talks focused on the effects of globalisation and the future of the European social and economic model. Social solidarity will also be high on the agenda of the EU summit of the heads of state and government on 27 October 2005.
Before the meeting, Schüssel conducted bilateral talks with his Finnish counterpart Matti Vanhanen. As Finland will take over the EU Council Presidency in the second half of 2006 from Austria, it was actively involved in the summit meeting of the EU social partners.
The Austrian Federal Chancellor was accompanied by Minister for Economic Affairs and Labour Martin Bartenstein and Minister for Social Affairs Ursula Haubner. Representatives of the European Industrial and Employers Confederation (UNICE) as well as the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), among them IV Secretary General Markus Beyrer and President of the Austrian Federation of Trade Unions (ÖGB) Fritz Verzetnitsch, also participated in the meeting. ■

At their traditional summit meeting held in Zagreb on 14/15 October 2005, the presidents of Central Europe called for the continuation of EU enlargement and further integration of the Union. “A Europe without future enlargement rounds will be a Europe of new divisions”, warned Slovenia’s President Janez Drnovsek. Austrian Federal President Heinz Fischer pledged Austria’s support for the states of the Western Balkans on their way into the European Union.
A total of 16 heads of state participated in the annual meeting in the Croatian capital. Host Stipe Mesic described European integration as a “millennium goal to which there is no alternative“.
On the sidelines of the summit, Federal President Fischer met inter alia with his counterparts from Poland, Slovenia, Moldavia, Romania and Serbia-Montenegro. ■

Accepting an invitation of Austrian Federal President Heinz Fischer and his wife Margit, the heads of state of Austria, Germany (Horst Köhler), Switzerland (Samuel Schmid) and Liechtenstein (Hereditary Prince Alois of Liechtenstein) gathered for a meeting at Leopoldskron Palace in Salzburg on 24 October 2005. The programme included official talks and a common visit to the Mozart House. ■

On 20 October 2005 Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit arrived for a two-day visit in Vienna, where he held talks with Federal President Heinz Fischer, Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel and Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik.
The key subjects discussed were the internal situation in Egypt after the re-election of long-term President Hosni Mubarak as well as the situation in the Middle East and Iraq. After Israel’s pullout from the Gaza Strip, Gheit called for international measures to revive the Palestinian economy, to create jobs and to establish efficient authorities.
Both sides referred to “excellent bilateral relations“. ■

On 11 October 2005 the Austrian federal government agreed to provide emergency aid of 300,000 euro to the victims of the devastating earthquake hitting Pakistan on 8 October 2005. An appeal to the Austrian public for donations was also made. Only two days after the disaster, the charity campaign “Nachbar in Not – Earthquake in South Asia was launched for the victims and survivors of the earthquake in Pakistan, India and Afghanistan. The Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) supports the campaign with its media. The Volkshilfe and Caritas charities provide local help.
The Austrian Federal Army contributes personnel and a drinking-water system. Moreover, Austria provides financial aid for the destroyed SOS Children’s Village. ■

Austrian environmental technology is developing into an export hit. As a study by the Economic Research Institute (Wifo) presented by Minister for the Environment Josef Pröll on 19 October 2005 shows, this industry has become increasingly important during the past 10 years. Just in 2003 domestic enterprises doubled their turnover selling environmental technology worth 3.78 billion euro. While there were 248 environmental technology companies in Austria in 1993, the industry now registers about 330 enterprises with more than 17,200 employees.
The production range includes plant engineering and construction, filter technology, waste and waste water treatment as well as “clean” technologies. According to study author Angela Köppl, “clean” technologies boast a share of 54% in the sales and are of growing importance especially in times of surging energy prices. “Austria has become an international market leader”, said Köppl.
More than two thirds of Austria’s environmental technology are exported. “This shows very impressively that environmental technologies are among the key technologies of the future“, underlined Pröll. The main reasons for the success were the innovative power of the Austrian entrepreneurs and the economic setting created by the federal government.
Richard Schenz, Vice-President of the Economic Chamber Austria (WKÖ), was also pleased about the above-average growth rates of Austria’s environmental technology industry. With an annual sales plus of 7.3%, this sector registered higher growth rates than the entire physical goods production (+3.5%), said Schenz. According to him, the industry would continue to have excellent growth opportunities, notably in China, India and the new EU Member States. ■

Minister of Finance Karl-Heinz Grasser stated that Austria’s economy was among Europe’s best. Austria was the “export emperor” of the EU, Grasser emphasised at the Meeting of EU Ministers of Finance in Luxembourg on 11 October 2005. President of the European Central Bank (ECB) Jean-Claude Trichet had also praised Austria’s outstanding development in the areas of productivity and competitiveness. According to an ECB study, Austria had recorded the highest export growth rate outside the euro zone between 1995 and 2004. As far as exports within the euro zone were concerned, Austria ranked second, stated the Minister of Finance. ■

Austria’s income from tourism is among the highest in the world. According to the data of the Economic Research Institute (Wifo) for 2004, Austria registered a per-capita income from tourism of 1,516 euro.
This made Austria the undisputed leader in the EU-15. In a comparison including the new EU Member States, Austria was outstripped only by the tourist-oriented Mediterranean islands Cyprus (2,418) and Malta (1,570). The non-EU country Switzerland boasts a per-capita income from tourism of 1,117 euro. ■

Raiffeisen International Bank-Holding (RI) has completed the take-over of Aval, the second largest bank of Ukraine. This was announced on 20 October 2005 by RI boss Herbert Stepic. The purchase price for 93.5% of the Aval Bank is 1.028 billion dollars (860 million euro); the planned acquisition of 100% of Aval will cost 883 million euro. This will make Raiffeisen the market leader in Ukraine, said Stepic. ■

Outshining its international competitors, the communications technology enterprise Frequentis was awarded a 50-million-euro contract by Scotland Yard to improve its surveillance systems. The contract concluded for nine years “is of an unprecedented magnitude”, said Frequentis managing director Christian Pegritz. Frequentis will provide Scotland Yard with an integrated command and communication platform. ■

Italian writer and literary scholar Claudio Magris (66) receives the Austrian State Prize for European Literature 2005. This was announced by Secretary of State for the Arts and Media Franz Morak at the Frankfurt Book Fair on 19 October 2005. The award went to an Italian author who “could not be more ‘Austrian’ and more ‘European’. With his book “The Hapsburg Myth in Modern Austrian Literaturer“, Magris – born in Trieste in 1939 – had presented “a classic of literary history”, stated Morak. Magris has earned international acclaim as one the most eminent scholars of German literature and – besides Umberto Eco – one of Italy’s most brilliant cultural journalists. He also translated Austrian authors from German into Italian, e.g. Franz Grillparzer, Arthur Schnitzler and Joseph Roth. ■

The German Book Prize was awarded for the first time at this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair. The prize winner is Austrian Arno Geiger, who was completely taken by surprise. Secretary of State Morak stated enthusiastically that in his novel “Es geht uns gut” Geiger presented “with supreme narrative power private and historical events captivating with great precision the atmosphere and sentiment of four generations in Austria in the past sixty years”. It was highly pleasant to observe how Austrian literature was winning worldwide recognition. Before Harold Pinter Austrian Elfriede Jelinek had won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2004. The new German Book Prize was modelled on the British Booker Prize and the French Prix Goncourt. The jury nominated 20 out of about 150 works reviewed by it. Six books were short-listed, including not only Geiger but also other Austrian writers: Daniel Kehlmann (“Vermessung der Welt“) and Friederike Mayröcker (“Und ich schüttelte einen Liebling“).
Geiger was born in Bregenz (Vorarlberg) in 1968. He studied German literature and a combination of disciplines of ancient history and comparative literature in Vienna and Innsbruck, graduating in 1993. During the summers he worked as a video technician for the Bregenz Festival. His first novel “Kleine Schule des Karusselfahrens“ was published in 1997. ■

The Prize for Literary Merit 2005 went to Florjan Lipuš publishing in Slovenian and German. Morak stated that it was “highly pleasant” that with Lipuš the prize was awarded for the first time to an Austrian author writing in Slovenian. In 1981 the author had scored a great success with his novel “Der Zögling Tjaz“ translated from Slovenian into German by Peter Handke. By repeatedly drawing attention to his outstanding colleague, whom he considered an “exemplary narrative author” of the Carinthian Slovenes, Handke had paved the way for Lipuš’ international acclaim.
Selecting Karl-Markus Gauß, the jury had found the “ideal prize laureate” for the Manes Sperber Prize that was again granted this year, said Morak. The award initiated in 1985 will be conferred in cooperation with the Manes Sperber Society at five-year intervals.
Literary critic of “Neue Zürcher Zeitung“ (NZZ) Paul Jandl receives the Austrian State Prize for Literary Criticism. The Literature Promotion Prize goes to Xaver Bayer and Thomas Stangl. ■

William Styron’s novel “Sophie’s Choice“ published in 1979 became an international success also thanks to the Oscar-winning film version of Alan J. Pakula with Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline in the leading roles. It was also the basis for the four-act opera of the same name by composer Nicholas Maw, who was born in Britain and lives in the USA. The opera – a commissioned work – received its world premiere at the London Royal Opera House in 2002 with Angelika Kirchschlager singing the title role and Sir Simon Rattle conducting. The Austrian mezzo-soprano was applauded enthusiastically and won renown as an international opera star. On Austria’s National Holiday, 26 October, the work is premiered in Austria at Wiener Volksoper. The performance has also been conceived as a contribution to Austria’s anniversary year 2005. Angelika Kirchschlager can be admired in her starring role as Sophie. In the summer of 1947 Sophie meets Nathan and Stingo – Morten Frank Larsen and Matthias Klink – in an apartment building in Brooklyn, New York. The Catholic Polish woman who survived the Holocaust falls in love with the Jewish paranoiac Nathan pretending to be a biologist. Stingo, a young author from the Southern States, is writing his first novel. Sophie starts to tell the story of her past. Having been deported to Auschwitz in 1943, the NS henchmen confronted her with the inhumane choice which of her two children was to die in the gas chamber – Eva or Jan. Now Sophie, who is suffering from physical and psychical problems, tries to get moral support from unstable Nathan. The inexperienced Stingo is impressed by Nathan and in love with Sophie. She reveals her feelings of guilt to the young man and seduces him. The ménage à trois ends tragically. Stingo is abandoned by Sophie, whom he wanted to protect from Nathan’s destructive fits. Sophie commits suicide with Nathan.
“Sophie’s Choice“ is produced by Markus Bothe, who opted for a bilingual version reflecting the locations – Auschwitz and Brooklyn. “The music is incredibly touching”, said Bothe, “it is not afraid of emotions and of telling a story about individuals instead of regimes, which is something contemporary opera embarks on only very rarely”. The new conductor-in-chief of Wiener Volksoper, Leopold Hager was responsible for the musical direction. ■

“Today design is more than ever before a decisive economic and locational factor for good design boosts the competitiveness of the Austrian economy and high-quality design solutions create jobs“, Minister for Economic Affairs and Labour Martin Bartenstein emphasised at the prize-awarding ceremony of the “Adolf Loos State Prize for Design 2005“. This year 229 projects had been entered in the competition: 54 in the category “consumer goods”, 34 in the category “capital goods”, 40 in the category “spatial design” and 101 were “experimental design” projects. An international jury awarded a total of 21 prizes and nominations. Prizes were for example given to René Chavanne for his event furniture object “JustinCase“ in the category “product design – consumer goods”, to Schiebel Elektronische Geräte GmbH and designer Gerhald Heufler for the unmanned helicopter “Camcopter S-100“ in the category “product design – capital goods”. The Adolf Loos State Prize for Design has been awarded at two-year intervals since 2001 in the framework of a public-private partnership of the Federal Ministry for Economy and Labour, the Federal Chancellery, Raiffeisenlandesbank NÖ-Wien and Design Austria. ■

The Museum der Moderne on Mönchsberg in Salzburg presents the show “Simultaneous. Two collections of Austrian photography from the Federal Chancellery and the Museum der Moderne Salzburg“ (ending on 15 January 2006). On an exhibition surface of 1500 square metres about 100 photographers and artists give an exemplary insight into photography after 1945, with the focus on the period from 1970 to the present. The show is divided into seven main sections: “Actionism“, “Identity“, “Visual Games“, “Constructed Reality“, “Scenario“, “The Land“ and “Social Space”. The exhibition has been curated by Urs Stahel, curator and director of the Photo Museum in Winterthur (Switzerland). In his opening statement Secretary of State Morak said inter alia: “From the very beginning of my term of office as Secretary of State for the Arts and Media I have considered the Rupertinum the place that should continue to accommodate and present the photo collection of the Republic of Austria. To me this is not just the continuation of a tradition but also a sign of preserving a key collection at a hot spot of Austria’s cultural life. Austria had not had a central collection of Austrian photography for a long time. It was only in 1981 that a collection of contemporary photography was set up under the aegis of Otto Breicher at the Rupertinum of Salzburg. In 1983, when the Rupertinum was turned into the Museum der Moderne, the collection of the Federal Republic and the Land of Salzburg officially started its activities under the name “Austrian Photo Gallery”. Thus the Federal Republic and the Land of Salzburg cooperated to found Austria’s only national collection of contemporary photography”, stressed Morak. In the exhibition titled “Simultan“ not only the “classics” were shown but also the works of the young generation, including new video and media art positions on the fringes of photography. ■

The new headoffice of Austria Press Agency (APA) located near Naschmarkt, Vienna’s main market, was inaugurated on 11 October 2005. Among the participants in the opening ceremony was Austrian Federal President Heinz Fischer. The core of the three-storey building is the 1600-m2 newsroom, one of “Europe’s most modern news centres”, as APA manager Wolfgang Vyslozil and editor-in-chief Michael Lang explained. With the new premises reflecting the diversification of operations, APA was well prepared for its internationalisation and investment strategy, stated Vyslozil. “The concept of the national news agencies is becoming obsolete“. The APA-Beteiligungs-Management GmbH founded in summer 2005 will concentrate on the information markets of Central and Eastern Europe. APA acquired about 70% of the media observer Polish News Bulletin in Poland. Similar deals were planned for the near future in Slovenia and the states of the Western Balkans. APA is committed to becoming a “European player” in information management and information technology.
In 1946 APA had been founded as a cooperative association. It has been owned by 15 Austrian dailies as well as the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF). The “denationalised” news agency, for which Anglo-Saxon global news agencies like AP and Reuters with their mandate of “true and unbiased news“ served as a model, was liberated from the control of party politics only in the 1970s. Since 1988 APA has reaped profits. In 2004 it recorded an operating result of about 1.9 million euro and sales of roughly 33.9 million euro. APA does not only provide news reports but is also active in the areas of news pictures, media observation, multimedia and financial services. The enterprise currently employs 258 staff members, among them more than 100 journalists. In addition, 100 free-lancers work for APA. With its unbiased and accurate news reports, APA is also an important source for the Press Service of the Federal Chancellery issuing the “News from Austria”. ■

In his novel “Old Masters“ Thomas Bernhard has the music philosopher Reger criticise that Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum (KHM) does not possess any works by Goya and that it did therefore not qualify as a “Museum of Art History”. The author is quite right but since the Hapsburgs were not on friendly terms with the Bourbons the Spanish painter did not manage to gain access to the Hapsburg’s collection. But everything is different until 8 January 2006. The monograph show about the Spanish court painter presents 70 paintings, 35 drawings, 11 tapestries as well as the painted sketches in four halls of the KHM. The exhibition created after long preparations in cooperation with the Staatlichen Museen Berlin and the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid is the first comprehensive presentation of the paintings by Francisco de Goya (1746-1828) in Austria. It had previously been shown at Berlin’s Alte Nationalgalerie, where it enthused about 230,000 visitors. In Vienna the hanging and the light are different. With spotlights directed at them in the dark rooms, the works of the revolutionary painter are simply magical. ■

Violinist Nigel Kennedy, pianist Lang Lang and bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff received the “Klassik Amadeus 2005“ on 11 October 2005. The award for the “complete oeuvre of an Austrian artist” was posthumously granted to Friedrich Gulda. The prize offered for the first time in four categories was conferred at RadioKultur¬haus in Vienna. The nominations had been based on the best-selling classic albums. Kennedy (“instrumental“) received the award for his CD “Vivaldi II“, Lang Lang (“solo/chamber music“) for “Live at Carnegie Hall“ and Quasthoff (“vocal“) for his recordings of Bach cantata. ■

“With the new Federal Sport Promotion Act entering into force on 1 January 2006, the additional financial resources allocated to sport will be used effectively and in the interest of sport", explained Secretary of State for Sports Karl Schweitzer. In concrete terms a legal basis has been established for supporting the federations and specialised sport associations in realising exercise programmes, school cooperation projects and structural measures, the Austrian Football Association in implementing structural reforms and measures promoting young hopefuls as well as for subsidising the mass sport campaign “Fit for Austria”. “The sport promotion policy of the federal government is re-oriented towards economising, operational efficiency and effectiveness and aims at absolute transparency“, emphasised Schweitzer. “Our top priorities are to promote talents and trainers and to enhance the professionalism of the sport associations. In this way we jointly create a sound foundation for the future of sports in Austria”, stated Schweitzer. In this context, he also pointed out that favourable employment effects were expected on the labour market. “In the next two years about 300 new jobs for trainers and coaches will be created resulting in interesting opportunities for the entire sport sector!“. Another fact to be highlighted is that all four political parties had supported this new approach to a successful promotion of sports. ■

At the press conference “Fit for the Economy” focusing on issues like preventive healthcare and the new subsidy for entrepreneurs promoting health in their companies (“Gesundheits100er“) hosted by the Social Insurance Institution for Trade and Industry (SVA), Schweitzer underscored the significance of health-promoting exercise and sport programmes bearing the quality label “Fit for Austria”. “I am pleased about this first cooperation with SVA. It did not only recognise the importance of physical exercise in preventive healthcare but also created the necessary incentives. Schweitzer expressed his thanks by emphasising that the SVA was a pioneer in financing preventive healthcare through sports, which should set an example across Austria“. The large-scale mass sports campaign “Fit for Austria” also helped to inform entrepreneurs and their staff about sport programmes. Schweitzer attached great importance to corporate health promotion for “usually efficient employees were behind economically successful – healthy – enterprises”. By taking advantage of the “Gesundheits100er“, entrepreneurs could inform themselves about the “Fit for Austria” programme before integrating their staff into this process. The expected “return on invest¬ment“, such as increased staff loyalty and identification with the company, greater staff satisfaction and team spirit, improved internal communication, less occupational accidents and sick leave as well as greater well-being and a higher quality of life, was promising and future-oriented. “Health cannot only be protected but should be actively promoted with the help of attractive programmes offered by the sports organisations”, concluded Schweitzer. ■

At the presentation of the sport hotel project initiated by Steffi Graf, Secretary of State Schweitzer stressed that sport could be more than “only” a meaningful leisure activity. Organised sport could make a valuable contribution to the national economy, stated Schweitzer. “If we manage to ensure that children find joy in doing exercise, we will lay the foundation for life-long sport activities“. The total costs of the project amount to 43,250 euro.