News from Austria

Austria calls for EU to stand up to Turkey
Published: 02 Aug 2016 09:53 GMT+02:00
Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern has said the EU must not allow itself to be bullied by Turkey after the country threatened to end the migrant deal unless its citizens are soon granted visa-free travel
http://www.thelocal.at/20160802/austrian-chancellor-calls-for-eu-to-stand-up-to-turkey

Good for Austria, LL, it's always a relief to see at least some people have their heads screwed on. I must confess, Merkel worries me - she's invested an awful lot of political capital, and EU money (ie, taxpayers) in cosying up to Erdogan pre-coup.

I know.....what does that all mean? I guess we must wait for matters to unfold a bit more....

Turkish nationalists storm wrong party in Vienna
Published: 03 Aug 2016 11:35 GMT+02:00
Turkish nationalists turned a birthday celebration into a surprise party when they stormed an event in Vienna after mistaking it for a Kurdish workers’ meeting.
http://www.thelocal.at/20160803/turkish-nationalists-storm-wrong-party-in-vienna

Although they left after realising they had got the wrong party, the group then tore down posters in the entrance hall and set alight to the materials near the stairwell in the building.

The fire was quickly put out by people from the Serbian party. “A catastrophe was probably prevented,” Nadir Aykut from the ATIGF told the Kurier.

The party-goers reportedly told Aykut the nationalists had said they would return with 50 people and burn the building down.

Charming.

Austria wants EU to end Turkey membership talks
Published: 04 Aug 2016 09:07
Austria's Chancellor Christian Kern on Wednesday called on the European Union to end membership talks with Turkey in the wake of a massive government crackdown following a failed coup.
http://www.thelocal.at/20160804/austria-wants-eu-to-end-turkey-membership-talks

Good, it's worrying that Turkish membership is still even being considered.

How could collapse of Turkey migrant deal affect Austria?
Published: 04 Aug 2016 11:20 GMT+02:00
With Turkey threatening to call off the controversial migrant deal made with the EU, thousands of asylum seekers and migrants could once again start making the dangerous crossing from Turkey to Greece.
http://www.thelocal.at/20160804/how-could-collapse-of-turkeys-migrant-deal-impact-austria

Should that happen, then, IMO, the EU itself is going to collapse, almost certainly with bloodshed, as native Europeans see everything they and their families have worked for, their whole culture, destroyed by these invaders.

And Merkel is liable to end up getting the Mussolini treatment.

'Terror threats' against Austrian police stations
Published: 04 Aug 2016 14:23 GMT+02:00
Austrian authorities said they increased security measures after receiving emailed "terror threats" towards police stations but added there was "no need to panic".
http://www.thelocal.at/20160804/terror-threats-against-austrian-police-stations

Do you know, I wish we could turn the clock back a few years, to a time when just about every news story WASN'T about moslems slaughtering people, moslems blowing stuff up, moslems demanding free stuff, moslems forever playing the victim, moslems threatening anyone that tries to stop them from slaughtering people and blowing stuff up, etc., etc., etc. ad nauseum.

I know precisely how you feel Bonny.

This could go on any of several threads, but it's come up here already, so...

http://www.politico.eu/article/juncker-dismisses-calls-to-halt-turkey-membership-talks-austria-christian-kern/

Juncker dismisses calls to halt Turkey membership talks
Commission president rejects Austrian leader’s claim that talks were ‘fiction.’
By IVO OLIVEIRA 8/4/16, 8:41 PM CET
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker warned Thursday that it would be counterproductive to halt EU membership talks with Turkey.

Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern had said the negotiations were “diplomatic fiction.”

But Juncker told German public broadcaster ARD: “I don’t think it would be helpful if we were to unilaterally end negotiations with Turkey.”

He added that any such decision would need the support of all EU member countries and he doesn’t “see this willingness among all member states at this point in time” to stop the talks.

But the Commission president acknowledged that Turkey has work to do in order to meet membership conditions set by the bloc.

“Turkey cannot be a member of the European Union in its current state, and especially not if it decided, as some have warned, to reinstate the death penalty. That would lead to the immediate breaking off of negotiations,” he warned.


That'll be the negotiations our previous PM denied were taking place?

Turkey spars with Austria over racism claims
Published: 05 Aug 2016 22:37 GMT+02:00
Turkey's top diplomat escalated on Friday a war of words with Austria, calling it the "capital of radical racism" after Vienna urged an end to Ankara's EU membership talks.

"Racism is an enemy of human rights and humanitarian values and the Austrian chancellor should first look at his own country," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told TGRT news channel.

"Austria is the capital of radical racism," he said.

Cavusoglu was reacting to comments made by Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern who said Turkey was unfit to join the European Union in the aftermath of the July 15 attempted coup by a rogue faction within the military.

"We have to face reality: the membership negotiations are currently no more than fiction," Kern told the Die Presse newspaper in comments published on Thursday.

Cavusoglu blasted Kern's "ugly" comments.

Turkey has already faced much criticism and delay in its bid to join the EU which could face further issues after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's suggestion last month that he may reintroduce the death penalty following the failed putsch.

Cavusoglu said he rejected all of Kern's criticisms of Turkey, which included the statement that Ankara's democratic standards were "far from sufficient to justify its accession".

Reacting on Twitter soon after Cavusoglu made those comments, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz urged his counterpart to "exercise restraint".

"I urge the foreign minister to exercise restraint and sharply reject his criticism. Turkey needs to moderate its choice of words and actions," he said in German.

On Thursday, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker rejected Vienna's call to end talks over Turkish accession, saying it would be a "serious foreign policy mistake".

"I don't think it would be helpful if we were to unilaterally end negotiations with Turkey," Juncker told German public broadcaster ARD.

Turkey's EU membership bid dates back to 1963, with its formal application made in 1987 and negotiations starting in 2005.

When all else fails, play the Race Card....

Austria officially opposes 'dictatorship' Turkey's EU bid
Published: 07 Aug 2016 23:34
Austria's Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz opposes any steps that would bring Turkey closer to joining the European Union, he said in remarks released Saturday.
http://www.thelocal.at/20160807/austria-officially-opposes-dictatorship-turkeys-eu-bid

It's reassuring to know that some countries still retain commonsense, LL.

British 'anarchist' evades trial in Austria
Published: 09 Aug 2016 09:36
A case against a British anarchist charged with obstructing police during the eviction of an anarchist squat in Vienna in 2014 has been dropped because Austrian police have been unable to find him.

The Brit was one of 19 people arrested in a huge police operation involving 1,400 officers to evict the squat in the 2nd district but he was the only one to be charged.
http://www.thelocal.at/20160809/british-anarchist-evades-trial-in-austria-pizzeria-anarchia-vienna

Have they tried Greece? Lots of British so-called 'anarchists' there, involved with the migrant camps and doing their usual sh*t-stirring.

Austrian who posted Hitler cat photo is jailed
Published: 12 Aug 2016

An Austrian has been sent to jail after being found guilty of posting a montage of Nazi-inspired photos onto social media, including one of a cat making a Heil Hitler salute.

The 38-year-old man from Flachgau in the state of Salzburg was sentenced by a court on Thursday to 18 months, 15 months of which are suspended.

The defendant, who pleaded guilty and apologised in court, was found guilty under the Nazi Prohibition Act of posting around 20 Nazi-inspired photos over a two year period, including many that alluding to gassing people.

One photo was of a cat that had been positioned as if it was making the Heil Hitler salute used by the Nazi party as a greeting.

“It is not about a single photo but rather an impression of the overall context,” said state prosecutor Markus Neher.

A house search carried out by police also found items of clothing belonging to the man that had Nazi symbols on them, including the numbers ‘88’ which are symbolic for HH, indicating ‘Heil Hitler’.

Austria turns away more migrants at Italian border
Published: 12 Aug 2016
Austrian police say there has been a “creeping rise” in the number of migrants and asylum seekers attempting to cross into the country from Italy.
http://www.thelocal.at/20160812/austria-calls-for-vigilance-as-more-migrants-cross-italian-border

Where do these idiots come from? We had a Hitler pug:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/outrage-man-trains-hitler-dog-7792702

The 1 minute 30-second clip is titled: "M8 Yer Dugs a Nazi."

At the end, Mr Meechan insists that he is a not a racist, but is only trying to play a "joke" on his girlfriend, Sue.

Mr Meechan, who lists his occupation on Facebook as "social nuisance", claims the purpose of the video is to "p*** her off".

Yes, well, I suspect he succeeded in that......

Most people have enough trouble teaching pets not to pee on the carpets without teaching them nazi salutes.

Hofer proposes burka ban and Turkish passport blocks
Published: 14 Aug 2016 11:02 GMT+02:00
The far-right presidential candidate has kicked off his election campaign with an interview in which he supports a ban on burkas in Austria, as well as blocking Turkey's proposed EU membership.
http://www.thelocal.at/20160814/hofer-proposes-burka-ban-and-turkish-passport-blocks-muslim
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Diplomatic spat over Turkish child sex headline
Published: 14 Aug 2016 17:49 GMT+02:00
Turkey's foreign ministry has summoned the Austrian charge d'affaires in protest at what it said was a "false" news ticker at Vienna airport about the age of consent in his country, further damaging ties between the two countries.
http://www.thelocal.at/20160814/diplomatic-spat-over-turkish-child-sex-headline
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Former Austrian Chancellor takes UN job
Published: 13 Aug 2016 20:54 GMT+02:00
Austria's outgoing Chancellor, who retired in May after his coalition government saw presidential election losses, has been appointed by UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon into a new role as Special Envoy for Youth Employment.
http://www.thelocal.at/20160813/former-austrian-chancellor-takes-un-job-faymann

I don't see why burkas should be tolerated in Western societies, LL. We don't tolerate people going round in balaclavas to hide their faces, so why should the walking bin bags be acceptable?

Good point.