GSF Payments to Begin; Reconciliation Fund

UNCLAS VIENNA 003852

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

STATE FOR EUR/OHI AND EUR/AGS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KNAR PHUM PGOV AU
SUBJECT: GSF Payments to Begin; Reconciliation Fund
Wraps Up


THIS MESSAGE IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.

Start of GSF Payments
--------------


1. (U) At a December 9 press conference, Parliamentary
President Andreas Khol (and chairman of the General
Settlement Fund, or GSF) and GSF Secretary General Hannah
Lessing announced that, as a result of the dismissal of
the Whiteman case by the U.S. federal court for the
southern district of New York on December 7, the GSF will
commence advance payments before the end of 2005. (The
January 2001 U.S.-Austrian Washington Agreement set up
the GSF to provide payments to victims of National
Socialism and their heirs.) On December 13, the cabinet
will declare legal peace, paving the way for the advance
payments. The GSF Claims Committee will meet December
14, and the GSF board on December 15. The GSF will then
send letters to 2,700 claimants whose cases have been
processed and decided, informing them about the advance
payments. After their reply and acceptance, the GSF will
transfer the money to them. A further 3,000 claims (out
of a total of 19,300) are ready for Claims Committee
action. Khol and Lessing estimated that approximately
1,000 - 1,200 payments will follow each month.

Size of Payments
--------------


2. (U) Regarding the size of the payments out of the USD
210 million GSF, Khol said that, as advance payments,
claimants will receive a percentage of the loss claimed.
The ceiling for an advance payment is USD 2 million.
Khol indicated that, in the GSF's pro-rata distribution
system, these advance payments will be fairly close to
the final sum awarded to claimants. The GSF commissioned
two analyses by university statistics institutes to
determine the percentages for the advance payments.

GSF Law and Amendment
--------------


3. (U) The original law setting up the GSF went into
force the day it was gazetted, on May 28, 2001, under
Federal Law Gazette number 58/2001. The Lower House of
Parliament passed the amendment of the GSF law providing
for the possibility of advance payments on November 16,
2005; the Upper House followed suit December 1.
Promulgation of the amendment should take place within a
few days.

Reconciliation Fund
--------------


4. (SBU) The Reconciliation Fund to compensate Nazi-era
forced and slave laborers held the last meeting of its
board of trustees on December 5. In total, the Fund has
spent 352 million Euro to compensate over 131,000 former
forced and slave laborers. EUR/AGS Director A. Daniel
Weygandt represented the U.S. at the meeting, which
accepted the accounting reports of the Fund's payments
and decided on further projects for use of the Fund's
surplus. The meeting also addressed problems with the
Polish partner organization, which could not provide full
documentation on the use of money earmarked for Polish
former forced and slave laborers. The Polish
organization has also failed to transfer its unexpended
surplus back to the Reconciliation Fund for inclusion in
the Future Fund.

McCAW