OCR
2, July 52 - page five a Finance Ministry on these establishments, Since it became apparent that the report of the Rechnuhgshof would not give the Socialist Party the desired material to diseredit the actual administration of the banks, the Party decided to interfere before the report could be completed and to use the unfinished material for its purposes. This seems to explain the most extraordinary interferenee of Vice-Chancello Schaerf in that matter. Using the authovity given to him during the absence of Chancellor Figl, Minister Schaerf informéd the President of the Rechnungshof, Dr.Sehlegel, that the federal government would not deal with the bank matter and that the report should be submittéd to Parliament without further delay, which means without waiting for the hearing to be granted to the directors of the interested banks. These and other similar affairs are openly discussed in the opposition press and ereate a deep reaction in publie opinion, With steeply rising prices, diminishing employment and decreasing export, the economie and financial situation becomes more difficult every day. Pubbie opinion traces these diffievlties back both to the occupation and to the party corruption, It is not astonishing then that democrat, institutions as such are being blamede Nazism, communism and democracy of the American type have one after the other proven to be a failure. Public opinion is inereasingly searching for another solution, The center parties are trying to ecaptrre those masses of discontent people and to group them in a new coalition. However, despite their efforts, there is too much underlying opposition and personal frictions amo the center groups, so that the creation of a large and truely Merre center party does not seem likely under present conditions.