AMBASSADOR BROWN'S MEETING WITH FONMIN PLASSNIK,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 VIENNA 002994

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/AGS - VIKMANIS-KELLER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/08/2015

TAGS: PGOV PREL ETRD CVIS AU
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR BROWN'S MEETING WITH FONMIN PLASSNIK,


SEPTEMBER 7, 2005

Classified By: Ambassador W.L. Lyons Brown. Reasons: 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) The Ambassador called on Foreign Minister Plassnik in

advance of her September 9 meeting with the Secretary in

Washington to review topics that are expected to be

discussed. These included:

-- Hurricane Katrina: The Ambassador thanked the Minister

for Austria,s offers of a Disaster Response Team (water

purification, chemical decontamination, search and rescue) as

well as personnel and equipment for the EU assistance offer

(crisis intervention team, fire department liaison,

communications support unit, and survival equipment). He

assured Plassnik the Austrians would hear from us immediately

if the disaster management authorities decided to take up the

Austrian bilateral offer.

-- Turkey Accession. Alluding to differences we had picked

up from EU capitals regarding Austria,s activities vis--vis

Turkish accession and Vienna,s intentions for the October 3

start of accession talks, the Ambassador said the Secretary

would be extremely interested in hearing first-hand what the

Austrian leadership had in mind. Plassnik said she did not

want the U.S. to have the wrong impression of Austrian views.

Austria,s position was consistent: there should be no new

conditions placed on Turkey, and no doors should be shut.

She said Austria had put its cards on the table in her August

letter to Jack Straw (ref a). She said she had told the

British it was not enough to rubberstamp the Commission

decision; the recent referenda and the obvious "crisis of

public confidence" made it necessary for the EU leadership to

hold a serious political discussion on Turkey. Plassnik said

she had proposed clarifying language regarding the openness

of the negotiations (point 7 in the negotiating framework)

which she had discussed with the Commission and would further

discuss with Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn on September


7. Austria did not link EU accession and Cyprus recognition

nor did it link Turkish and Croatian accession. Plassnik

said she had explained to ForMin Gul in a lengthy discussion

in Wales that EU commitments to Turkey were not in question.

She said she hopes it will be possible to find the right

language for the negotiating framework to show the European

publics that their leaders have heard their concerns.

-- US-EU Summit. The Ambassador acknowledged Austria,s

desire for a Bush visit during the Austrian presidency but

advised Plassnik that the Austrians may not get an answer

from Washington until after the New Year or sometime next

spring. Plassnik said she was not surprised and understood

why the president could not yet commit. Since she expected

the Austria press to continue to pressure the Schuessel

government for news on this point, Plassnik planned to raise

the raise the invitation with the Secretary to be able to

tell the press she had done so.

-- Afghanistan. The Ambassador thanked Plassnik for

Austria,s contributions to Afghan security during the fall

elections, noted DefMin Platter,s recent suggestion that

Austria might consider sending another contingent to

Afghanistan during 2006, and expressed the hope that Plassnik

would be as helpful in making another contribution possible

next year as she had been in engineering the present

deployment. Plassnik did not commit herself, but observed

that Platter was doing a good job in explaining the

contingent,s activities to the Austrian public.

-- Iran trade. The Ambassador said that the Secretary would

certainly raise the serious U.S. concerns regarding

Austria,s trade with Iran. While the U.S. knew the Austrian

business community was putting considerable pressure on the

government to support all possible trade opportunities with

Iran, the Ambassador said the U.S. had and always would

vigorously oppose any trade involving weapons or dual use

items. He reminded the minister that the proposed opening of

an Iranian Technical Cooperation Office (TCO) had generated

high tensions in the U.S.-Austrian relationship last year.

The U.S. was pleased that the Austrian government had decided

not to allow the TCO opening, and had also curtailed the sale

of sniper rifles, but this was an area she could expect the

U.S. to continue to watch carefully and with considerable

concern. The Minister made no comment.

-- November Conference on "Islam in a Pluralistic World."

While noting that no formal invitations had been received in

Washington, the Ambassador said the U.S. Embassy had passed

on to the Department what we had been told of Austrian plans

for inviting U/S Karen Hughes and A/S Dan Fried to the

November 14 event. Plassnik said she was still mulling over

how to shape the Vienna conference and would welcome U.S.

advice. Afghan President Karzai had accepted; she thought

former Iranian President Khatami had at least informally

accepted. The Austrians wanted to offer the U.S. a useful

platform for reaching out to the Islamic world and its

"legitimate leaders." Since the Austrians believe the

conference needs strong U.S. attendance to make it

worthwhile, the ForMin plans to ask the Secretary for advice.

-- Restitution Issues. Observing that the Austrian Embassy

in Washington had suggested that the minister intended to

raise restitution with the Secretary, the Ambassador asked

how the minister intended to approach the subject. Plassnik

explained that she might mention it in passing as an example

of good, steady Austrian-U.S. cooperation, but would not

devote time to it.

-- Schuessel Visit to U.S. The Ambassador informed Plassnik

that the White House had been provided the dates the

Chancellor would be available for a visit to Washington in

December.

-- Biometric passports. Drawing on ref (b),the Ambassador

turned to the probable consequences for Austrian visitors to

the U.S. of Austria,s inability to institute digitalized

passport photos by the October 26 deadline. Plassnik said

this was the first she had heard of the problem (although her

aide confirmed the item was in the minister,s briefing book)

and was clearly appalled by the prospect that thousands of

Austrian visitors to the U.S. after October 26 would be

required to get visas. Plassnik said this would be a "major

political issue" for her government, predicting that the

Austrian press would maul her if she emerged from a meeting

with the Secretary to spread the bad news to Austrian

travelers.

-- Ambassador,s departure from post. The Ambassador said

that he was tentatively planning to leave Vienna on October

5, and thanked Plassnik for her cooperation.

-- Plassnik,s travel: She will visit Russian on October 6

and was holding September 26 for a possible EU meeting on

Turkey.

Brown