BWC 2005 WORK PROGRAM MEETINGS ON CODES OF

UNCLAS VIENNA 001498 SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPARTMENT FOR NP/CBM, EUR/ERA, EUR/PGI AND EUR/AGS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PARM PREL AU CBW EUN SUBJECT: BWC 2005 WORK PROGRAM MEETINGS ON CODES OF CONDUCT: AUSTRIAN RESPONSE REF: SECSTATE 81766 This message is sensitive but unclassified. ¶1. (SBU) Pol Unit Chief delivered reftel demarche and associated non-paper to acting head of MFA Nonproliferation Bureau Dorothea Auer on May 6. Auer thanked us for the information and responded that it was clear that any "universal" code of conduct was a non-starter. She also thought it unlikely that the time available would permit any re-hash of prior-year work programs. However, she observed that it was difficult to restrain discussion in experts' groups ("we can't put them in a strait-jacket") and that keeping the meeting on track would require agile work by the chair. ¶2. (SBU) Auer agreed that any discussion of the 2006 RevCon agenda should wait until December 2005 at the earliest. She noted that there was little variance between European and U.S. threat assessments. The EU position that some sort of verification instruments were needed in the area of biological weapons was well-known, she continued. She hoped that the U.S. would demonstrate "some flexibility" in order for the 2006 RevCon to achieve progress. Brown