EU BORDER MISSION FOR LEBANON: AUSTRIA IN THE EU

C O N F I D E N T I A L VIENNA 002430 SIPDIS SIPDIS NEA/ELA MATTHEW IRWIN E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/17/2022 TAGS: PREL IS LE SY EUN AU SUBJECT: EU BORDER MISSION FOR LEBANON: AUSTRIA IN THE EU HERD REF: STATE 128335 Classified By: A/DCM Dean Yap. Reason: 1.4(b) and (d) (C) A/DCM and PolOff met 9/17 with Austrian MFA Middle East Department Director Ralph Scheide and senior staffer Wolfgang Lapuh to discuss, inter alia, reftel demarche. Lapuh reported that Austria is comfortable with the EU consensus position in support of a well-structured fact-finding mission and indicated that the main unresolved issue was the question of timing, on which he said Austria is agnostic. He did indicate that Austria placed some credence in the analysis that Syria is reasonably serious about cooperating on border monitoring and said that, if the political process in Lebanon works, he believed a mission will be organized. Such a missionwould be tasked with evaluating Syria's willingness to resume border delineation, Lapuh thought. He reported that he expected no definite decision on the fact-finding Mission until the October GAERC. The next PC might, he suggested, task Solana with preparing draft terms of reference for the fact-finders. McCaw