US embassy cable - 05VIENNA1472

UNCLAS VIENNA 001472 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/I, EUR/ERA AND EUR/AGS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, IZ, AU, EUN 
SUBJECT: SUPPORT FOR IRAQI TRANSITIONAL GOVERNMENT: 
AUSTRIAN RESPONSE 
 
REF: STATE 79107 
 
This message is sensitive but unclassified. 
 
1.  (SBU) EconPolCouns and Pol Unit Chief delivered reftel 
demarche to MFA head of Middle East/Africa Bureau Ralph 
Scheide on May 3.  Scheide noted that Chancellor Schuessel 
had sent a congratulatory message to Prime Minister 
al-Ja'afari, and that President Fischer had sent a greeting 
to President Talabani inviting him to visit Austria.  Scheide 
said that the conclusions of the April 25 EU General Affairs 
and External Relations Council (GAERC) had summed up European 
and Austrian views on the ITG,  He thought it unlikely that 
the GoA would issue its own statement on the inauguration of 
the ITG, however. 
 
2.  (SBU) Scheide hoped that an EU Troika mission to Iraq 
would be possible in the near future.  Regarding the makeup 
of the ITG, Scheide said that representation in the new 
government should be as broad-based as possible, and that 
participation in decision-making should be a transparent, 
inclusive process.  He emphatically agreed that criticism of 
the "ethnic composition" of the new government was off-base, 
adding that finding a way to bring Sunnis into the political 
process would be an essential element for a successful 
stabilization strategy. 
Brown