On 24 August 2005 the members of the government adopted first measures to cope with the flood disaster affecting various regions in Austria. Flood Disaster Aid and Reconstruction Acts are to be presented at the next Council of Ministers on 30 August 2005, informed Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel after the meeting of the responsible ministers. Minister of Finance Karl-Heinz Grasser has been authorised to increase the Disaster Fund. The additional sum to be allocated is not known as the final damages cannot yet be assessed, said Schüssel. But they were expected to amount to some hundred million euro. At present the Disaster Fund has available 29.5 million euro. The allocation formula fixed in 2002 would be applied for distributing the funds to the Länder, stated the Chancellor. The bundle of laws should enter into force with retroactive effect 1 July 2005 so as to cover also the flood damages in Mittersill (Salzburg). The set of measures will also include an Environment Promotion Act authorising Minister for the Environment Josef Pröll to give the go-ahead for reconstruction. In addition, a wealth of measures adopted in the wake of the flood disaster in 2002 would be continued. Schüssel pointed out that donations were tax free for the recipients, gifts made in connection with the flood were exempted from tax and that loan agreements were free of charge. Moreover, no federal administrative charges would be levied. As in the past, the accelerated company tax depreciation could be applied to substitute assets acquired due to flood damages. According to Schüssel, the depreciation rate was 12% for buildings and 20% for other assets. A measure planned for the autumn and winter was to decrease the prices of feed grain, announced the Chancellor. Minister of Finance Grasser would conduct talks with banks and insurance companies to agree on possible aid. Furthermore, the Chancellor pointed out that enterprises hit by the flood disaster could receive aid from “Austria Wirtschaftsförderungsgesellschaft". In general, adequate measures were in place to cope with the disaster. On behalf of the government the Federal Chancellor expressed his “deepest sympathy” to all victims and thanked the about 40,000 private and professional helpers. ■

EU Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferro-Waldner wants to stand up for speedy cash support for the flood damages in Austria from EU funds. She had already held talks with the responsible EU Commissioner for Regional Policy, Danuta Hübner, said Ferrero-Waldner in Alpbach (Tyrol). ■

Hungarian President Laszlo Solyom, who assumed office in early August and is now touring various counties, paid a visit to Vienna on 26 August 2005. He met with Federal President Heinz Fischer, Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel and the speaker of the Nationalrat (first chamber of Parliament) Andreas Khol. Solyom and Fischer underlined the “sound basis“ of the two countries opening a joint diplomatic representation in Podgorica (Monte¬negro) on 1 September 2005. According to Fischer, the bilateral issue of a transition period of up to seven years before granting the EU freedom of labour force was not addressed at this first meeting. Finally Fischer reiterated that Austria and Hungary had a favourable position towards a speedy EU accession of Croatia. The regional partnership between Austria and Hungary was praised at a meeting between Solyom and Khol. Khol was pleased that with the fall of the Hungarian Schengen border passport controls would also come to an end. ■

In New York on 24 August 2005 the UN General Assembly elected criminal law professor Frank Höpfel from Vienna ad litem judge of the International Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia in The Hague. The term of office of the international criminal law specialist teaching at the Department for Criminal Law and Criminology of Vienna University is four years, commencing with the day of election. ■

Foreign Minister Plassnik informed the members of the federal government that Austria had applied for a non-permanent seat on the Security Council of the United Nations on 9 August 2005. A total of more than 50,000 Austrians had participated in UN peace-keeping missions. Austria had been represented twice in the Security Council (1973/74 and 1991/92). It was a major concern of Austria to participate actively in the international community of nations and to contribute Austrian expertise. Austria would therefore stand as a candidate for a non-permanent Security Council member in the elections taking place in autumn 2008. ■

A meeting of prime ministers on stability in South Eastern Europe chaired by Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel took place in Salzburg in early August. Among the conference participants were Erhard Busek in his capacity as the coordinator of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik, the prime ministers and heads of government of Croatia, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro as well as leading representatives of Austrian companies. At this meeting held for the fourth time Austria advocated that the South Eastern European countries should be granted a definite European perspective. As the Federal Chancellor explained, Austria would support the development of this region, in particular during its EU Presidency. “We expect that negotiations with Croatia will start as soon as possible and we will give our full support. A European perspective guarantees the stability of the region. This is of vital to Austria and the EU“. ■

In Helsinki Austrian Foreign Minister Plassnik met with her Finnish counterpart Erkki Tuomioja for official talks. Finland will succeed Austria in the EU Presidency in the second half of 2006. The foreign ministers are jointly developing the annual EU programme for 2006 focusing on growth and employment. Other priorities are a review of the EU sustainability strategy, the combat against terrorism, European neighbourhood policy and EU cooperation with Russia. Tuomioja hosted an informal dinner at Lake Tuusula, in which besides Plassnik also the foreign ministers of Sweden and Estonia, Laila Freivalds and Urmas Paet, participated. ■

Minister of Defence Günther Platter said good-bye to the so far largest Austrian Afghanistan contingent in Vienna on 1 August 2005. 93 soldiers serve in a German-led (NATO) support team. They will also contribute to secure the parliamentary elections in Afghanistan scheduled for 18 September 2005. ■

The Czech government adopted a resolution to pay tribute to those Sudeten, who actively fought National Socialism and were loyal to Czechoslovakia during the German occupation (1939-1945). The Cabinet of Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek apologised for the expropriation and displacement of these people and expressed his regret that they had not been given credit for their services to the country after the WWII. The Austrian Foreign Ministry explicitly welcomed this gesture towards the anti-fascist Sudeten on 24 August 2005. ■

In the commemorative year 2005 the European Forum Alpbach, celebrating its 60th anniversary, consciously focuses on the future. The general topic is “Europe – Strength and Weakness“. Until 3 September 2005 Europe’s political, economic and scientific elite lectures on and discusses the position of the European continent in the world, its opportunities and limits, its identity in view of global economic, political and social upheaval. ■

The regional employment and growth campaign adopted on 8 August 2005 in the Federal Chancellery will contribute additional funds of 1.2 billion euro to provide impetus to the economy. Out of this amount fresh money of about 250 million euro will be provided by the federal government and the Länder. Additional financial resources and loans totalling 1.2 billion euro to be made available by the end of 2006 are expected to trigger investments of up to 3 billion euro, said Chancellor Schüssel when signing the economic memoranda on the “regional employment and growth campaign” in the presence of Minister of Finance Grasser, Minister for Economic Affairs Bartenstein and leading representatives of the nine Länder. ■

From 1 September 2005 onwards the federal government will grant financial aid to companies taking on additional apprentices. Egon Blum, the federal government’s officer responsible for apprentices, created the so-called “Blum bonus”, which is also referred to as “Project 06“. Enterprises employing more apprentices than on 31 December 2004, will receive 400 euro monthly for the first year of apprenticeship training. In the second and third year they will receive monthly bonuses of 200 euro and 100 euro, respectively. The “Project 06“ had a potential of creating 1,500 to 3,000 apprenticeship places, said Blum. Minister of Labour Martin Bartenstein, who presented the project jointly with Blum, expected that this measure and 5,700 additional training positions in the support network for apprentices would make up for 6,500 lacking apprenticeship places. The precarious labour market situation of young people is likely to last until 2009. Then the inflow of young labour force will decline. ■

President of the Austrian Economic Chamber Christoph Leitl called for an “employment and growth master plan” for Europe at the European Forum Alpbach. It should include subgoals and clear controlling. 20 million unemployed in Europe were “an enormous waste of resources”. The idea of an ecological-social market economy should be further developed into a humane concept. Europe had to take advantage of opportunities and to be faster than the others. In a comparison of growth on all continents, Europe was at the bottom of the list. “We need global institutions“, said Leitl. He mentioned global social partnerships as an example and demanded a “political EU leadership“. ■

The furniture store Ikea once more boosted its sales in Austria and decreased the prices by 3.8% on average from the prior-year level. As Urs Meier, parting national manager of Ikea Austria, explained, the price decrease was the result of huge volumes and innovative production procedures and logistics. Ikea invested 30 million euro in price cuts for the new financial year 2005/06. Investments in infrastructure were also continued. In 2004 11.5 million people had been in one of the six Ikea furniture stores in Austria. Currently Ikea Austria employs 2,100 people. In the financial year ending on 31 August 2005 Ikea Austria increased its sales by 4.8% to 426 million euro based on preliminary calculations and has thus been growing faster than the market. After five years with Ikea Austria Urs Meier moves to Great Britain as deputy national head. His successor in Austria will be the native Swede Helen Duphorn. ■

The Vienna-based Siemens plant will produce the new underground trains for Norway’s capital Oslo. On 23 August 2005 the first prototype was handed over to the representatives of Oslo’s transport service. The order value of the 33 tripartite underground trains is 190 million euro. The models for regular service will be delivered to Norway from February 2007 onwards. According to Siemens, this contract safeguards the jobs of the 1,200 employees of the plant in Vienna during several years. In the factory in Vienna-Simmering this year a total of 300 trams and underground trains will be produced, e.g. for Boston, Shanghai and Melbourne. ■

The English writer Julian Barnes has become the winner of the Austrian State Prize for European Literature 2004. The prize granted since 1965 has been awarded inter alia to Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Simone de Beauvoir, and in more recent years to Cees Nooteboom, Christoph Hein and Umberto Eco. Secretary of State for the Arts Franz Morak paid tribute the author born in Leicester (Great Britain) in 1946 for his oeuvre at the Salzbur¬g Residence on 9 August 2005: “In all his works his narrative talent of the experienced novelist and the brilliant style of the close observer blends with the knowledge of an expert in literature and history. No matter if it was a novel, a story or literary essay – Julian Barnes has always brought new glory to the genre“. He remained a seducer of his readers, offering them not only his intelligence, erudition and literary art but also the “wonderful talent of telling stories cleverly, in an amusing way and with unmatched lightness and of making immune to arrogance, vanity and megalomania of all sorts with his soft irony“. The ceremony was also attended by British Minister for Culture David Lammy, who addressed the role of literature as a universal language in his speech. “Despite different languages and cultures it is literature that unites us in Europe and through which we communicate. We thank our writers supporting us with their art”. In his thank-you statement Julian Barnes mentioned the great number of European artists who had not spent all or parts of their lives in their native countries but in other European regions. In fact, there was nothing like a “European” novel. “This would be like food on a plane. It does not kill you but on the other hand it does not really satisfy anybody”. Among the outstanding works of the author famous for his ironic style of narration are: “A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters“, “England, England“ and “Flaubert’s Parrot 1984, a brilliant novel about the love for literature and the consequences of art for life. Under the pseudonym of Dan Kavanagh Barnes also writes first-rate detective stories. Moreover, he translates French literature, e.g. Alphonse Daudet. ■

The “Red Cross, the cross of blood on the flag of peace and the huge organisation for which it stands, is known all over the world. But today only very few people know that the “Red Cross” was founded by the Swiss Henry Dunant (1828-1910). He witnessed the Battle of Solferino (24 June 1859), which shocked him deeply. The battle decided the Sardinian War in favour of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. About 150,000 soldiers of Piedmont-Sardinia and France fought against some 170,000 Austrians and expelled them from their possessions in Northern Italy. This was the first time Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria was defeated. On both sides more than 40,000 soldiers died and 80,000 were wounded. Despite the conflicting views of states and institutions, Dunant founded the “Red Cross” in 1863, an international relief organisation providing medical care to all wounded soldiers on the battle fields and protecting the nursing staff irrespective of their nationality. The Geneva Convention was laid down in 1864. In 1901 Dunant and Frédéric Passy, a French economist, co-founder of the International League for Peace (1867) and the Interparliamentary Union (1888), became the first Peace Nobel Prize Laureates. Now the European public TV stations realise the first TV film about the life of Henry Dunant. The film titled “Das Rot auf dem Kreuz“ [“Red on the Cross”] is directed by Dominique Othenin-Girard and the script is by Claude Michel Rome. The co-producers PALE BLUE PRODUC¬TIONS (Austria), DUNE (France) and BOHEMIAN FILMS (Switzerland) are supported by the TV stations ORF, France2 and Television Suisse Romande. With the assistance of EBU (European Broadcasting Union), more than 20 European TV stations and the Algerian TV station joined in financing this film. In late August shooting will start in Austria, where the Battle of Solferino is to be recreated in a spectacular way. Other scenes will be shot in Switzerland and Algeria. The film will comply with High-Definition Television (HDTV) standards. According to EBU, the project underlines the significance of public TV stations cooperating with independent European producers. ■

The author Wolfgang Bauer, born in Graz in 1941, died in his native town on 26 August 2005 from a severe heart condition. Federal Chancellor Schüssel stated that with Bauer, who had been “uncompromising in his social criticism”, which was expressed in his plays “Magic Afternoon” and “Change”, Austria had lost one its most prominent dramatists and poets”. Secretary of State for the Arts Morak said inter alia that the author had continued the literary art of “Nestroy, Karl Kraus and Wittgenstein“. The revolutionary atmosphere in Graz in the 1960s and the Forum Stadtpark writers’ group would be inconceivable without him. He had “lived spontaneously and ruthlessly vis-à-vis himself“ and was still full of warmth and love for the people. Peter Handke said that in his young years Bauer was “the only genius in Austria“. Gerhard Roth stated that his fellow writer had rejected ideologies for blocking his view of existence. As a dramatist he “had been one of the first to introduce dialect into stage language“. ■

The Yiddishpiel Theater Tel Aviv headed by Shmuel Atzmon will give a guest performance in Vienna’s Theater Akzent from 27 September to 2 October 2005. It will perform the theatre play and music of Michaela Ronzoni “Di Parry Schwesters“ and Isaac Bashevis Singer’s tragic comedy “Di lezte Libe“. The Parry Sisters were a famous singing duo in the USA for several decades. Valery Muchriamov’s new version of Singer’s play describes the fate of some people who had survived the Holocaust and found a new home in New York. ■

The Jewish Museum Vienna presents the exhibition “Elias Canetti (1905-1994) – Taking the century by the throat“ by Strauhof Zurich, which is still on show until 25 September 2005. It has been realised in cooperation with the Central Library Zurich and the Austrian National Library. In July Graz had intensively celebrated Elias Canetti in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of his birthday. Canetti lived in Vienna’s quarter Ober-St. Veit from 1927 to 1933 and in Vienna’s 2nd district from 1933 to 1935. Before their emigration in 1938, Veza and Elias Canetti lived at Himmelstraße 30 in the 19th district. The Nobel Price Laureate (1981) remained a contradictory loner, whose work (e.g. “Auto da Fé“, The Wedding“) is in contrast to the literary mainstream of the 20th century. He left his estate to the Central Library of Zurich, where he lived in his youth for some time and spent the last years of his life. Since 2002 researchers have had access to his literary heritage (drafts, versions, records) but not to his diaries and private correspondence, which will be kept under lock and key until 2024. Now the 100th anniversary of his birthday is an occasion to pay tribute to the life and work of the multilingual and exceptional writer, who wanted “to unite Europe through the history of his childhood”, in an exhibition. ■

The Austrian writer and translator Barbara Frischmuth (born in 1941) will be awarded the “Honorary Prize of the Austrian book trade for tolerance in thought and action” on 14 November 2005. As a reason for its decision the jury stated that the author investigated “in her work the sensitive relation between the Western and Islamic world, between Europe’s conception of itself and the oriental culture. She pleads for a respectful treatment of and learning from one another. There is a need for a differentiated view of the lifestyle, religion and ways of thinking of other countries, especially in an epoch of growing antagonisms. Barbara Frischmuth’s literary work provides us with the necessary tools“. The orientalist and first-class connoisseur of Turkish translated numerous works from English and Hungarian. Among her most renowned works are “Die Klosterschule“ (1968) [The Cloister School], “Die Mystifikationen der Sophie Silber“ (1976) [The Mystification of Sophie Silber] and most recently “Der Sommer, in dem Anna verschwunden war“ (2004) [The Summer Anna Disappeared]. In her stories,novels and plays she often addressed the situation of women at work and encounters between oriental and Western culture. The Honorary Prize of the Austrian Book Trade has been awarded since 1999 in the framework of the Austrian book festival to authors who – in their work and by their personal commitment – have advocated in an outstanding way tolerance towards neighbours with different languages and cultures, contributing to a peaceful co-existence in Europe. Previous prize winners were Viktor Frankl, Cardinal Franz König, Christine Nöstlinger and Sir Peter Ustinov.
The film version of Frischmuth’s novel “Die Schrift des Freundes“ (1998) [The Writing of a Friend] describes a tragic Austro-Turkish lovestory. Cameraman Fabin Eder’s debut as a film director has been nominated for two major competitions. In late October 2005 the film will participate in the “Prix Europa 2005“ contest in Berlin. In late Novem¬ber it will be screened at the Baden-Baden TV film festival, where the TV film prize of the German Academy of Performing Arts and the 3sat Audience Prize are awarded. The script was authored by Eder and filmmaker Heide Pils. ■

Contemporary music is promoted in Graz. Composers from all EU Member States can enter chamber opera concepts for the “Johann Joseph Fux opera composition competition“ of the University of Arts by mid October. The winner can expect his work to be premiered at the Styrian autumn festival 2006 (“steirischer herbst”) as well as a cash prize of 7,200 euro. The competition is held only every third year. In the first phase (until 15 October) the complete libretto and the (completed but not yet performed) concept of the entire work as well as a final version of at least 15 minutes have to be presented. The opera should last between 45 and 90 minutes and be suited for a cast of 2 to 12 soloists as well as 3 to 32 musicians and 12 choir singers. The jury selects three drafts, whose composers will receive financial support while completing the work. The first half of the work is to be presented in the second phase (ending on 1 March 2006), the entire work (score, orchestra parts) by the end of the third phase. ■

The exhibition “coolhunters – youth cultures between media and market“ (running until 16 October 2005) is dedicated to the image of youthfulness, which increasingly impacts the aesthetic production of an ageing society and is closely linked with the cycle of goods and consumption, which can be related to art and design. So-called “authentic” underground cultures are approved by “coolhunters“. Curators Birgit Richard, Klaus Neumann-Braun, Sabine Himmelsbach and Peter Weibel first developed the show for Karlsruhe. ■

The Federal Chancellery rewards commitment in the cultural arena to integrating people with disabilities also this year. For cultural projects completed a prize of 11,000 euro is awarded, while a prize money of 7,500 euro is granted to promote projects not yet realised. Project entries can be submitted to the Department for the Arts of the Federal Chancellery by 15 September 2005. The awards are conferred for projects actively involving people with disabilities. Their aim is to strengthen public awareness of the manifold talents of people with disabilities and to promote their sustainable social integration. Another priority is to intensify cooperation of all artistically active people – with or without disabilities. All non-profit art and cultural associations as well as non-profit alliances of cultural workers and artists resident in Austria may participate in the project. ■

The Linz-based Ars Electronica festival is dedicated to hybrid forms of life, e.g. in exhibitions, lectures, concerts and discussions (1 to 6 September 2005). White robots with many legs operated by wind power indepen-dently stroll along a deserted Dutch beach. They are creatures of the artist Theo Jansen, forms of life between computer-supported engineering art and biological principles. These beings inhabit the main square of Linz during the Ars Electronica. This year’s “sound cloud” will be realised by Hubert Lepkas and Lawine Torren. ■

In line with the motto “Counselling on the move – the first step”, representatives of the umbrella sports organisations ASKÖ, ASVÖ and Sportunion give comprehensive tips on physical exercise at fairs and special events all over Austria. This tour is supported by ÖBB-Postbus GmbH, Hofer, Vöslauer Mineralwasser AG and Erima GmbH. The “activity stops” invite young and old people to do coordination and balance exercises to test their reactivity on the one hand and to give the balance discs a try on the other hand. The “7 Fits“ are practical exercises to promote strength, mobility and stamina. Counselling about moderate cardiovascular training is provided on ergometers, while Nordic Walking is offered on a tour through the fair or a visit to the Danube wetlands. “With this campaign we want to motivate many Austrians not yet practising sports to do a first step and show them how they can take health-promoting measures by doing simple exercises and integrate physical exercise effortlessly into their every-day lives”, stressed Secretary of State for Sports Karl Schweitzer. “We would like to spotlight the comprehensive health-oriented sport offer of the umbrella sports organisations. In the last few months as much as 351 programmes have been awarded the quality seal “Fit for Austria”. ■

The 10th track-and-field world championship took place in Helsinki from 6 to 14 August 2005. In the preliminaries of Austria’s forthcoming EU Council Presidency, talks on sport policy were held between Finnish Minister of Culture Tanja Karpela and Secretary of State for Sport Karl Schweitzer. “We want to join efforts to give more priority to sport in Europe“, emphasised Schweitzer in a press conference at the Austrian ambassador’s residence in Helsinki. In coordination with Great Britain and Finland, the common work will be continued, focusing above all on continuity. “By setting priorities, the economic significance of sport in society is to be highlighted. Concrete figures may help to boost the interest in sport and to illustrate the salutary effects”, said Schweitzer. From this perspective issues like sport and health, sport and mass-sport events and their indirect profitability, sport and honorary activities, sport and old age taking into account the demographic development as well as sport and tourism and its significance as a job creator are common concerns.
With regard to the unsettled question of the EU service directive, Schweitzer is of the opinion that a liberalisation would threaten the financial base and thus the future of sport. “France, Germany and the Scandinavian countries support Austria’s position – the gambling monopoly has to remain in force to guarantee the successful development of sport”, stressed Schweitzer. Austria agreed with Finland on most points in the area of anti-doping measures. “Cooperation in anti-doping education would be continued to ensure that sport will retain its positive image in the European society“, concluded Schweitzer. ■

The “Sport 2000” alliance of sports goods dealers tries to explore new marketing opportunities, notably in Eastern Europe. At present, it focuses its efforts on the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. There are plans to set up a well functioning inter-regional Central European sports trade organisation responsive to quickly changing product ranges. In Austria 236 dealers with 363 shops are members of the alliance. ■