AUSTRIA NAMES CHARGE IN BAGHDAD FOR THE DURATION

UNCLAS VIENNA 003883

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

STATE FOR NEA AND EUR/AGS - VIKMANIS-KELLER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL IZ AU EUN
SUBJECT: AUSTRIA NAMES CHARGE IN BAGHDAD FOR THE DURATION
OF ITS EU PRESIDENCY

REF: VIENNA 3818


1. (SBU) On December 13, the Austrian government announced
that journalist and Middle East expert Gudrun Harrer will
head Austria's diplomatic mission in Baghdad during the
Austrian EU presidency, from January through June 2006. The
Foreign Ministry's assistant secretary-level Director for
Middle East and African Affairs, Ralph Scheide, told us that
Harrer would serve as both the Austrian Presidency's Special
Envoy to Iraq and also the Austrian Charge d'Affaires.
(Scheide explained that Austrian law does not permit
non-career appointees to assume the title of Ambassador.)
Harrer will arrive before January 1, Scheide said.


2. (SBU) Austria currently has no diplomatic presence in
Iraq, but rather covers the country from its embassy in
Amman. Austria's trade delegations in Iraq -- an existing
office in Baghdad and a new one in Irbil (reftel) -- will
come under Harrer's authority, Scheide told us. Austrian
diplomatic offices will be housed in British facilities
inside the Green Zone -- an arrangement, Scheide said, for
which the GOA will pay "a lot" of money to the British.
Scheide said he expected Harrer to have a small staff.


3. (U) In announcing Harrer's appointment, Foreign Minister
Ursula Plassnik said, "A secure, stable and united Iraq is in
the interest of the European Union. Therefore, EU member
states have participated actively, within their capabilities,
in international efforts to support Iraq's political and
economic reconstruction." As EU President, Austria needs its
own diplomatic presence in Baghdad, "in order to pursue the
duties of the EU presidency at the scene."


4. (SBU) Bio note: Harrer has been a consultant to Plassnik
on Middle East issues since Plassnik assumed her position in
December 2004. Harrer is the foreign policy editor of the
Vienna newspaper "Der Standard." She is also a Middle East
expert who has written several books on Iraq and lectures in
modern Arab history at the University of Vienna. Harrer has
been a close contact of the Embassy. She speaks excellent
English.
MCCAW