Last month, the current interior minister, Dominique de Villepin, created yet another Muslim body: the Foundation for Islamic Welfare.

ECONOMIST: French Catholics and Muslims

The Americans have been pressing the Shias to exclude the current interior minister, a SCIRI man, from the emerging government because Sunnis accuse him of overseeing death squads against them.

ECONOMIST: Iraq grows ever more sectarian | The

Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner said the current system "fits Austria like a glove and is the best guarantee for all future challenges".

BBC: Austrians vote to keep compulsory military service