Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06VIENNA3286
2006-11-08 16:28:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Vienna
Cable title:
AUSTRIA AGREES: KOSOVO NOT A PRECEDENT
VZCZCXYZ0005 PP RUEHWEB DE RUEHVI #3286 3121628 ZNY CCCCC ZZH P 081628Z NOV 06 FM AMEMBASSY VIENNA TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5489 INFO RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE RUEHKB/AMEMBASSY BAKU 0334 RUEHBW/AMEMBASSY BELGRADE 0785 RUEHCH/AMEMBASSY CHISINAU 0532 RUEHKV/AMEMBASSY KYIV 0006 RUEHVJ/AMEMBASSY SARAJEVO 0131 RUEHSQ/AMEMBASSY SKOPJE 1253 RUEHSI/AMEMBASSY TBILISI 0618 RUEHTI/AMEMBASSY TIRANA 1035 RUEHYE/AMEMBASSY YEREVAN 0291 RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0162 RUEHPS/USOFFICE PRISTINA 0669
C O N F I D E N T I A L VIENNA 003286
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
STATE FOR EUR/AGS - SAINT-ANDRE
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/08/2016
TAGS: PBTS PREL UP AU
SUBJECT: AUSTRIA AGREES: KOSOVO NOT A PRECEDENT
REF: STATE 179829
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires a.i. Gregory E. Phillips. Reason:
C O N F I D E N T I A L VIENNA 003286
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
STATE FOR EUR/AGS - SAINT-ANDRE
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/08/2016
TAGS: PBTS PREL UP AU
SUBJECT: AUSTRIA AGREES: KOSOVO NOT A PRECEDENT
REF: STATE 179829
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires a.i. Gregory E. Phillips. Reason: 1.
4 (b) and (d).
1. (SBU) Charge presented reftel demarche on November 7 to
Hannes Porias, the Austrian MFA's A/S-equivalent Director for
Eastern Europe, and Valerie Zirl, the MFA's South-East Europe
desk officer.
2. (C) Porias agreed with our message, and undertook to
support it. He said it was increasingy problematic that
states whose territory was the scene of "frozen conflicts" --
Georgia, Moldova, and others -- were expressing concern that
a Kosovo solution could prejudice their cases for territorial
integrity. Porias added that the Chinese also seemed to fear
that Kosovo would be a precedent for separatist movements.
3. (C) A Kosovo solution (i.e., an independent Kosovo, as we
described in our points) would not ultimately be the subject
of a negotiated settlement with Belgrade, much as we all
would like that to happen, in Porias's view. The problem was
that Russia and China wanted Belgrade to be part of an
agreement. In the end, the UN Security Council had to be the
body to make the decision on Kosovo, since UNSCR 1244
established the Security Council as the "master of Kosovo's
future status," as Porias put it.
4. (C) Porias expressed concern that a delay in the Serbian
elections would almost certainly mean holding a campaign
after the Christmas season. This meant the elections would
not be until after January 20, at the earliest.
5. (C) As a relatively minor point, Porias asked for
clarification of our comment that frozen conflicts like
Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria "predate the Kosovo
situation." If we used this as a talking point, he said, we
had to be wary of getting bogged down in a historical
argument. He noted that this was true if one considered "the
Kosovo situation" to mean the initiation of armed conflict in
1999. However, one could argue that today's Kosovo problem
goes back as far as 1981.
Phillips
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
STATE FOR EUR/AGS - SAINT-ANDRE
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/08/2016
TAGS: PBTS PREL UP AU
SUBJECT: AUSTRIA AGREES: KOSOVO NOT A PRECEDENT
REF: STATE 179829
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires a.i. Gregory E. Phillips. Reason: 1.
4 (b) and (d).
1. (SBU) Charge presented reftel demarche on November 7 to
Hannes Porias, the Austrian MFA's A/S-equivalent Director for
Eastern Europe, and Valerie Zirl, the MFA's South-East Europe
desk officer.
2. (C) Porias agreed with our message, and undertook to
support it. He said it was increasingy problematic that
states whose territory was the scene of "frozen conflicts" --
Georgia, Moldova, and others -- were expressing concern that
a Kosovo solution could prejudice their cases for territorial
integrity. Porias added that the Chinese also seemed to fear
that Kosovo would be a precedent for separatist movements.
3. (C) A Kosovo solution (i.e., an independent Kosovo, as we
described in our points) would not ultimately be the subject
of a negotiated settlement with Belgrade, much as we all
would like that to happen, in Porias's view. The problem was
that Russia and China wanted Belgrade to be part of an
agreement. In the end, the UN Security Council had to be the
body to make the decision on Kosovo, since UNSCR 1244
established the Security Council as the "master of Kosovo's
future status," as Porias put it.
4. (C) Porias expressed concern that a delay in the Serbian
elections would almost certainly mean holding a campaign
after the Christmas season. This meant the elections would
not be until after January 20, at the earliest.
5. (C) As a relatively minor point, Porias asked for
clarification of our comment that frozen conflicts like
Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria "predate the Kosovo
situation." If we used this as a talking point, he said, we
had to be wary of getting bogged down in a historical
argument. He noted that this was true if one considered "the
Kosovo situation" to mean the initiation of armed conflict in
1999. However, one could argue that today's Kosovo problem
goes back as far as 1981.
Phillips