SWIFT: AUSTRIA IN HOLDING PATTERN

C O N F I D E N T I A L VIENNA 000244 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/02/2017 TAGS: EFIN PTER KTFN PREL SUBJECT: SWIFT: AUSTRIA IN HOLDING PATTERN REF: 06 VIENNA 3551 Classified By: Economic-Political Counselor Gregory E. Phillips for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) On January 31, DCM and Econ Unit Chief met with Thomas Wieser, the Ministry of Finance's Director General for Economic Policy and Financial Markets, and Birgit Ertl, MoF Adviser, to inquire about Austria's latest thinking on SWIFT. Ertl, who is the MoF's POC for SWIFT, said that the GoA had only sent an interim reply to Justice and Home Affairs DG Jonathan Faull's December letter. According to Ertl, the Austrian Data Protection Committee had not yet agreed on an appropriate response. ¶2. (C) Ertl said that Swedish officials had contacted her to stress that the EU needs SWIFT in order to ensure a functioning general payments system. According to Ertl, several member states -- the UK, Netherlands, and Sweden -- were working on an initiative for a reasonable outcome. Ertl noted that many member states were waiting for the German Presidency to outline its position, before committing themselves. Ertl admitted that Austria was in a holding pattern, waiting to see how things developed in Brussels. ¶3. (C) Wieser agreed with our point that the SWIFT discussion needed to have a better balance between law enforcement obligations, data privacy rights, and maintaining a worldwide payments system. Wieser good-naturedly characterized the Austrian dat protection authorities as "ayatollahs." Accordng to Wieser, since the SWIFT story became publi in June 2006, only one bank -- a small, provincal one -- had complained about the program to GoAfinancial authorities. ¶4. (C) Comment: The MoFhas been a voice of reason on SWIFT (reftel),prvately criticizing what it feels was an initial ack of engagement with the EU on SWIFT, but advocaing a low-key, behind-the-scenes approach to rach a solution. The Data Protection Committee, as Wieser noted, is zealous in its independent function as a data protection guardian. Adequate protection of data privacy certainly has resonance in Austrian society, given the country's experience under national socialism. MCCAW