Erstellt am: 16. 1. 2012 - 15:46 Uhr

What's an "A" between Euro-friends?

Reality Check: Austria loses it's AAA rating, limiting nuclear enerty in Austria, Costa Concordia disaster, EU oil embargo on Iran, young social entrepreneurs in Austria.

Standard and Poors has downgraded Austria's AAA credit rating, along with France, Italy, Spain, Cyprus, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Malta. That's a pretty mixed bag of countries - but the one thing they all have in common is the Euro. The announcement certainly created waves in Austria, where Chancellor Werner Feymann said "Austria must become more independent from the financial markets" and there has been much indignation, people saying that the downgrade is unwarranted. However, Der Standard's Andras Seagetvari says we shouldn't take it personally. The downgrade is about the general Euro crisis, and not specifically Austria. In fact, he says that if Austria doesn't deserve AAA rating, who does? He adds that many of the reasons given for the downgrade don't make much sense, and it is unlikely to have much effect. He gave Joanna King his take on the decision and the official reasons for it.

• The source of our energy

As the government meets with environmental groups to discuss atomic energy, we look at the sources of our energy supplies and how selective we can be in choosing what type of energy we use. John Cummins examines the problems and possible solutions with Greenpeace's Jurrien Westerhof.

• Cruise ship disaster

Search and rescue teams continue to work on the capsized Costa Concordia cruise ship, and some experts are saying this was a tragedy waiting to happen.

Although it's unclear what the exact cause of the accident was, the incident is raising concerns about safetey procedures on very large ships. Steve Crilley asked Geoff Garfield of Tradewinds whether cruise liners are getting too big to be safe?

• Iran oil embargo

The EU is planning an embargo on Iranian oil that would see all EU countries banned from buying oil from Iran. Patrick Müller, an expert on EU Foreign Policy at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, tells Joanna Bostock what impact such a ban would have on Iran and on the countries which usually import its oil.

• The next generation social entrepreneurs

Business studies teacher, Johannes Lindner, explains how he is teaching social entrepreneurship to young Austrians, and about some of the successful projects his students have instigated.

FM4 Reality Check

Monday to Friday from 12.00 to 14.00, and after the show via Podcast or fm4.orf.at/realitycheck.