US embassy cable - 05VIENNA1498

UNCLAS VIENNA 001498 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR NP/CBM, EUR/ERA, EUR/PGI AND EUR/AGS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PARM, PREL, AU, CBW, EUN 
SUBJECT: BWC 2005 WORK PROGRAM MEETINGS ON CODES OF 
CONDUCT: AUSTRIAN RESPONSE 
 
REF: SECSTATE 81766 
 
This message is sensitive but unclassified. 
 
1.  (SBU) Pol Unit Chief delivered reftel demarche and 
associated non-paper to acting head of MFA Nonproliferation 
Bureau Dorothea Auer on May 6.  Auer thanked us for the 
information and responded that it was clear that any 
\"universal\" code of conduct was a non-starter.  She also 
thought it unlikely that the time available would permit any 
re-hash of prior-year work programs.  However, she observed 
that it was difficult to restrain discussion in experts\' 
groups (\"we can\'t put them in a strait-jacket\") and that 
keeping the meeting on track would require agile work by the 
chair. 
 
2.  (SBU) Auer agreed that any discussion of the 2006 RevCon 
agenda should wait until December 2005 at the earliest.  She 
noted that there was little variance between European and 
U.S. threat assessments.  The EU position that some sort of 
verification instruments were needed in the area of 
biological weapons was well-known, she continued.  She hoped 
that the U.S. would demonstrate \"some flexibility\" in order 
for the 2006 RevCon to achieve progress. 
Brown