Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05VIENNA2828
2005-08-23 15:24:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Vienna
Cable title:  

PRE-GYMNICH DEMARCHE: AUSTRIAN RESPONSE

Tags:  KPAL PREL IS HR IR AU EUN 
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C O N F I D E N T I A L VIENNA 002828 

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/ERA AND EUR/AGS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/23/2015

TAGS: KPAL PREL IS HR IR AU EUN
SUBJECT: PRE-GYMNICH DEMARCHE: AUSTRIAN RESPONSE

REF: A) STATE 153187 B) VIENNA 2827

Classified By: ECONOMIC-POLITICAL COUNSELOR GREGORY E. PHILLIPS

REASONS: 1.4 (B) AND (D)

C O N F I D E N T I A L VIENNA 002828

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/ERA AND EUR/AGS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/23/2015

TAGS: KPAL PREL IS HR IR AU EUN
SUBJECT: PRE-GYMNICH DEMARCHE: AUSTRIAN RESPONSE

REF: A) STATE 153187 B) VIENNA 2827

Classified By: ECONOMIC-POLITICAL COUNSELOR GREGORY E. PHILLIPS

REASONS: 1.4 (B) AND (D)


1. (C) Embassy Vienna delivered reftel points on August 22

to MFA Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) Director

Andreas Riecken. Riecken said that the UK Presidency had not

circulated a final agenda for the meeting. Given the

ostensibly informal nature of the Gymnich, it was difficult

to predict which Foreign Minister might want to raise an

off-agenda topic. Still, Riecken noted that China and

Venezuela did not figure in the EU draft papers for the

conference, and might not come up at all. On the other hand,

Riecken said there would be a discussion of a UK-sponsored

project, a proposed Arms Trade Treaty to halt illegal global

arms trafficking. While Turkey and Croatia did not appear on

UK agenda per se, they were presumably subsumed by the rubric

"Enlargement." (See ref b report for Austrian views on

Turkish accession talks.)


2. (C) MIDDLE EAST/GAZA DISENGAGEMENT: Riecken believed that

the Foreign Ministers would want to take stock of the

situation in Iraq, including progress on a Constitution. On

Gaza, Riecken acknowledged that the EU would probably want to

contribute to the disengagement plan as a positive step in

the peace process. Since the Gymnich could not take formal

decisions, other EU fora would have to work out specific

formulas for EU support for disengagement.


3. (C) CROATIA: Riecken said that Austria continues to see

itself as an advocate for Croatia's aspirations. He said

that work was proceeding within the five-member Task Force,

most recently at the Political Director level. The next

step, in September or October, would be to review prosecutor

Del Ponte's evaluation of Croatian progress toward full

cooperation with ICTY. The Task Force should also consider

Croatia's action plan for compliance, especially in

investigating and rolling-up the networks that support the

fugitive Gotovina.


4. (C) POSSIBLE WESTERN BALKANS CONFERENCE: Riecken said

that Austria was now leaning toward hosting a

ministerial-level meeting on economic development and

integration of the Western Balkans into Europe, during its

2006 Presidency (rather than a full-blown Summit follow-up to

the 2003 Thessaloniki conference). This could take the form

of an add-on to the Gymnich in Salzburg in early 2006, where

five Balkan foreign ministers might join the EU-25. The

Austrians' thinking on this was still evolving, and would

depend mostly on the outlook for further progress as their

Presidency approaches.


5. (C) IRAN: Austria and the other EU member states are

closely following the status of talks between Iran and the

EU-3 on shutting down Iran's enrichment program. Riecken

thought it likely that the EU-3 Foreign Ministers would want

to use the venue of the Gymnich to brief their partners on

the state of play of the talks and their chances for success.

van Voorst