Tag: Austria

Finance ministers meeting in Brussels today (14 May) will attempt to approve the Savings Tax Directive, which has provoked political infighting in Austria, one of the last countries to hold out against implementing the directive.

Austria will join Luxembourg for talks with the European Union on how to crack down on cross-border tax cheats, Chancellor Werner Faymann said today (9 April), signaling an easing of its hardline stance on bank secrecy.

The European elections in 2014 will be the real testing ground on parliamentary openness and ethics, said centre-left MEP Evelyn Regner, a year after a new code of conduct entered into force following a cash-for-influence case.

The financial and economic crisis is not yet over, with lingering uncertainties about growth, competition and profits. Therefore, stricter credit terms are an important topic for small and medium enterprises, argues Markus Stock.

Billionaire auto parts magnate Frank Stronach has burst into Austrian politics with a call to abandon the euro, probably turning parliamentary elections due next year into a de-facto referendum on the country's role in Europe.

A top education official in the Netherlands has threatened universities and colleges in the east of the country with closure if they continue to recruit students from just across the border in Germany.

EU officials and politicians are increasingly alarmed at Austria's handling of Rakhat Aliyev, a former Kazakh ambassador legally resident in the country, who has been linked to several murder and torture cases. 

Austria said it was considering holding a referendum on Turkey's EU accession, even if the candidate country successfully completes its accession negotiations. The statement apparently left Ankara unimpressed. EurActiv Turkey reports.

The Chancellor of Austria, Social Democrat Werner Faymann, joined anti-nuclear activists on Monday (25 April) to call for a public campaign to eliminate nuclear power in the European Union. His aides now say the Chancellor hopes to mobilise public opinion to prompt the launch of a European Citizens' Initiative.

Werner Faymann, the Austrian chancellor, has rejected Germany's calls to penalise countries that break EU budget discipline rules, saying he does not believe in changing the treaties to fix the euro zone's debt problems. In an exclusive interview with EurActiv.de, he also gives his views on France’s controversial Roma expulsions.

Austria re-elected Social Democrat Heinz Fischer to the largely ceremonial post of president on 25 April, underscoring the far right's failure to win over conservative voters.

Austria believes Croatia can wrap up its accession negotiations with the EU this year and join in 2012, Austrian President Heinz Fischer said after talks with his Croatian counterpart Ivo Josipović in Vienna on Monday (15 March).

"I wish everybody could discover the added value of Europe at least once in their lifetime," Johannes Hahn, Austria's commissioner-designate for regional policy, told EurActiv Germany in an exclusive interview.

Two EU countries and Switzerland last week (13 March) announced their intention to amend banking secrecy rules following pressure from the OECD and its members.

The victory of the Social Democrats in the general elections on Sunday (28 September) was overshadowed by the resurgence of the extreme right, with the two populist parties virtually holding a near-majority in the new parliament.

Austria's government collapsed today (July 7) over contradictions between coalition partners on how to reform the health system and a highly controversial statement by Prime Minister Alfred Gusenbauer on holding referenda on future EU treaties.

According to Swiss police reports, Al-Qaida has threatened to launch attacks on the European football championships due to be held in Austria and Switzerland in June, leading to heightened vigilance by security forces.

Slovakia has joined Austria's bid to host the proposed European Institute of Innovation and Technology in the hope that a twin-city headquarters initiative will convince ministers to give them the nomination.

The Czech Republic got bad marks for failing to curb its budget deficit with the Commission urging the country to get its budget below the 3% of GDP threshold by 2008.

Following months of negotiation, the new grand coalition government of Alfred Gusenbauer was announced on 8 January 2007.

With a drop of more than 8% in votes, Wolfgang Schüssel's Christian-Democrats suffered a surprise defeat in the Austrian parliamentary elections. Social-democrat Alfred Gusenbauer is expected to become the next chancellor of a possible "grand" coalition, similar to Germany's.

Bosnia-Herzegovina is the last former Yugoslav republic to have opened talks on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the EU.

With the Parliament rejecting the hard fought long term EU budget deal, Austria is arguing for an EU tax to avoid tiresome cash negotiations in the future.    

The Austrian Green MEP Johannes Voggenhuber was, together with British Liberal Andrew Duff, the Parliament's rapporteur on the EU Constitution. Both MEPs are also rapporteurs for the report on the period of reflection, to be voted in plenary in the January 16 -19 session. In an exclusive interview with EurActiv, he commented on how likely the Austrian Presidency were to relaunch the stalled constitutional process.