DEMARCHE TO AUSTRIA: UNIFIED APPROACH TO

UNCLAS VIENNA 003401 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/RPM AND EUR/AGS - SAINT-ANDRE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PBTS EUN NATO OSCE MO GG RU AU SUBJECT: DEMARCHE TO AUSTRIA: UNIFIED APPROACH TO GEORGIA/MOLDOVA CONFLICTS REF: STATE 190264 ¶1. (SBU) Post conveyed reftel points on November 22 to Thomas Mayr-Harting, the Austrian MFA's Political Director. Charge met with Mayr-Harting on November 24 to discuss the issue. Austrian OSCE Political Affairs Director Christophe Ceska, Eastern Europe Director (DAS-equivalent) Josef Litschauer, and Eastern Europe desk officer Ursula Fahringer also participated. ¶2. (SBU) Mayr-Harting said Austria agrees with U.S. views on the status of the territories in question (Transnistria, South Ossetia and Abkhazia). Austria would like the international community to find a solution to compatible with international law and with the integrity of the states of which they are a part, Mayr-Harting said. ¶3. (SBU) Ceska said there was agreement among EU members that it was important to win consensus on a Ministerial Declaration this year. It had been five years since this had been possible, he noted. However, there were diverse views on whether there should be different regional declarations on Georgia and Moldova. There was some support for avoiding mention of Russia's Istanbul Commitments in a declaration on Georgia, he noted. ¶4. (SBU) Mayr-Harting said it would be difficult, in a consensus-based organization such as the OSCE, to induce Russia to sign on to a text to which the EU and U.S. could agree. In practical terms, he mused, Russian acquiescence to such a text in early December would effectively give away a point the Russians think they could use (much as we all disagree) in connection with Kosovo early in 2007. Tactically, if there is no chance for a consensus text this year, it would seem to make sense for the EU and U.S. to resist offering compromises to the Russians at all. He undertook to work out a definitive position to share with us. ¶5. (SBU) Ceska and Litschauer said they had not/not been able to locate the Russian text that reftel cites (para. 2, tic 4). They asked if we had a copy we could share with them. Phillips