Commentary

It is increasingly evident that Europe’s political leaders, for all their commitment to the Euro’s survival, do not have a good grasp of what is required to make the single currency work. The prevailing view when the Euro was established was that all that was required was fiscal discipline – no country’s fiscal deficit or public debt, relative to GDP, should be too large.

With their backroom politicking at the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) exposed, the nation’s politicians have shown scant remorse. According to Werner Faymann: “Parties having no say at all, that doesn’t exist in all of Europe!” 

The U.S. rating agency Standard and Poor’s has become a something of a joke in Austria. What? They downgraded us? While still awarding a AAA to the United Kingdom?  

Since the London riots, every Austrian knows that unemployment in the U.K. is high – in fact 8.6%, whereas here it still hovers around 4%, the lowest in the EU.  Our public debt, while too high at 70% of GDP, is far below the eurozone average of 86% and far below the U.K. at 148%, both figures counting financial interventions.  All in all, it’s just not funny! 

The recent Education Reform Initiative (Bildungsinitiative)has raised sharp debate about overhauling Austria’s educational system. Although its goal is admirable – better, more equal education for all – its approach may be overzealous.

At the moment, Germany is the strangest country in the world, or at least in Europe. Due to the debt crisis, the entire continent is focusing on Germany, yet the country itself isn’t in a crisis.

In early November, Austria’s Science Minister and the Presiding Committee of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (AAS) signed a “performance agreement” for 2012-2014 which foresees large cuts to t

One can argue about the sense or nonsense of statutes of limitation. But the longer ago the crime, the less use a conviction is to the victim, or to society. 

Certainly, it is tempting to call for extended statutes. Who wants to appear to be protecting alleged child abusers? But before we join in the chorus, let’s make sure that we are aware of a few things. 

Continuing its dismal record as an environmental champion, Austria has failed once again to meet its obligations under the Kyoto Protocol. According to the Umweltbundesamt (Federal Environmental Agency), Austria’s 2012 goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions below 1990 levels will most likely not even be met by 2020. If current trends continue, 2020 emissions will actually be more, rather than less – by as much as 16%.

Regardless of whether democratization in the “new Middle East” succeeds or authoritarian forms of government prevail once again, one fundamental change has already become clear: no one will be able to govern without taking into account domestic public opinion.

This change will shift the foreign-policy parameters of the Middle East conflict (understood as both an Israeli-Palestinian conflict and as a conflict between Israelis and Arabs more generally). Despite wars in Lebanon and Gaza, and the intifadas in the occupied West Bank, these parameters have proven surprisingly stable for decades, anchored by the peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan and the Oslo accords with the Palestinians.