Brigitte Gradischnik-Schanner 

Welcome

Visit to the Austrian Parliament on the occasion of the Intersteno Congress- Vienna 2005

Ladies and Gentlemen! Dear Colleagues!

In my capacity as head of the parliamentary reporting service � my name is Brigitte Gradischnik-Schanner � it is a great honour and a special pleasure to me to welcome you here in the Austrian Parliament, and I may convey to all of you the very best regards of the President of the National Council, Dr. Andreas Khol � a great friend of the parliamentary reporters �, who is unfortunately prevented by other commitments from being with us here today and from welcoming you personally.

From among the 70 congress participants, from 16 different countries, who have come to visit the Austrian Parliament today, let me specially mention by name Dr. Fausto Ramondelli, the past President of Intersteno, and again extend to him and to all of you, dear colleagues, my most cordial welcome!

As you have probably seen from the congress brochure, it has been 46 years since the last congress of Intersteno took place in the Austrian federal capital in 1959. I do not know whether there was also a meeting held in this building at that time, but if there was, it took place only a short time after the reconstruction of this historical building was completed � thanks to a tremendous effort untertaken by the Austrian population! � in the year 1956.

The building had been severely damaged in the Second World War � about half of its substance had been destroyed �, and during its reconstruction the goal was to closely follow the original plans of Theophil Hansen, the great Danish architect, who had been commissioned in 1869 by the Ministry of the Interior with the task of planning this monumental building. The ground-breaking ceremony took place in 1874, and the whole building was ready for occupation in 1884.

But enough � for the time � of the history of this building, since later on, we will anyway have the pleasure of inviting you to a guided tour through the building. Only one more remark � you all noticed it when approaching the building �: At the moment, the Austrian Parliament is resembling a huge building site, due to the refurbishment of the ramp and the fountain of the Parliament building, which is currently taking place � as wind and weather have taken a heavy toll especially on this part of the building �, and the parallel construction of a new visitor center.

Let me conclude my remarks about this building by mentioning two figures: As one of the most significant buildings of Vienna�s Ringstra�e, the Austrian Parliament attracts between 55 000 and 65 000 visitors per year. Up to 1 400 visitors per day are guided through the building by our visitors service.

Well, you may say, this is a historical building � but: How is the work done in this building today?

Since all of you, dear colleagues, are experts in the field of reporting, there is no need for me to explain how quickly things change and what �tempora mutantur� means in the context of our field of work. All of you know: Never walk home slowly with a newly-bought PC: You might risk that it is obsolete by the time you arrive home!

Let me just briefly mention � without anticipating the presentations that will follow � some facts and figures about the Austrian parliamentary reporting service:

In my department, I have 9 full-time reporters. This permanent team is reinforced on days of plenary sittings by additional external personnell, both in reporting and in audio-typist capacity, whose training is organized and handled by the department itself.

The mission of my department is to act as a customer-oriented service unit. Benefiting from its services are � among others � the offices of the presidents of the National and Federal Council, the parliamentary clubs, the chairpersons of the parliamentary committees und sub-committees as well as � outside Parliament � the Federal Chancellery, the ministries, the provincial governments, embassies, journalists, citizens interested in politics and many others.

What are the products provided by our department? � On the one hand, we are producing summary records of deliberations of the Standing Sub-Committee of the Court of Audit Committee, of Investigating Committees and of � if requested by a committee chairperson and authorized by the president � deliberations of other committees.

On the other hand, we are delivering verbatim records of parliamentary hearings as well as of the plenary sittings of the two chambers of the house. � As to the �verbatim rendering� of debates, I think I also need not give you a detailed explanation of the multiplicity of processes it actually implies. A former president of this House once addressed the parliamentary reporters in one of his speeches in the following words:

�As an habitual impromptu speaker, I well know � and so will you � about that almost agonizing process of producing a written record of an extemporized speech. What passes as a certain conversational tone in spoken language will, when put into a written form, come out as a wrong subject, a wrong predicate and as redundant � and unlogic � negations. However, when you read through the product delivered by our ladies and gentlemen in the parliamentary reporting office, you will notice that they have exercised mildness and, like a magic hand, have smoothed out those wrong subjects and predicates and eliminated what had been disturbing the sense. I do not hesitate to recognize this performance not only as a journalistic, but almost as an author�s accomplishment.�

Dear colleagues, we all know it well enough! But I think only those who have themselves tried to do this head-breaking work can really get a notion of our profession, the permanent stress at work, the multiplicity of instant decisions which must continually be taken. Let us not forget either that our task goes beyond the rendering of speeches and that Official Reports of parliamentary debates include more than readable speeches: interjections, applause, manifestations of disapproval, any incidents occurring in the Chamber or on the galleries, etc.

As to the name of our profession, we must keep in mind that � this holds at least for the German word �Parlamentsstenograph�; and by mentioning this, I am in no way detracting from the importance of shorthand: we could not manage without it even today! � it is based on only a small portion of the work we are actually doing! � This hardly matters, however, because if it does lead to a misunderstanding with regard to our work, it will only be on the part of those who have never really thought about it.

There is at least one truth: What finally will remain of a parliamentarian are the official reports of his speeches � an important source of research for journalists, for historians and of course also for lawyers.

Dear colleagues! Mrs. Caroline Pauser, my colleague, will now outline to you how the Official Reports are produced in the Austrian Parliament. Following her presentation, Mr. Dieter Schenk will give you some information about the computer and systems support of this process. Both of them will then of course be available to answer your questions. Moreover, you will find  � on the tables at the back of this room �  free information folders available in German and in English.

Some more information about the program of this morning: After the two presentations that will immediately follow, you will have the opportunity of a guided tour through the parliament building � I would ask you to form two groups of roughly equal size for this purpose. The guides will then lead you to the great Marble Hall, where the more informal part of the program will begin and a good buffet � as I hope � will be waiting for you.