US embassy cable - 05VIENNA2210

C O N F I D E N T I A L VIENNA 002210 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/AND AND EUR/AGS - VIKMANIS-KELLER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/29/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, VE, AU, EUN 
SUBJECT: AUSTRIAN REACTION TO DEMARCHE ON VENEZUELA 
 
REF: A. (A) STATE 117165 
 
     B. (B) BRUSSELS 2481 
 
Classified By: Economic-Political Counselor Gregory E. Phillips.  Reaso 
n:  1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1.  (SBU) EconPolCouns presented reftel points on June 29 to 
Andreas Melan, the Austrian Foreign Ministry's DAS-equivalent 
for Latin American affairs. 
 
2.  (C) Melan said he had heard nothing about a possible 
high-level Venezuelan visit to Europe.  He noted that 
Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik had held a brief 
meeting with her Venezuelan counterpart in May during the 
EU's Rio Group meeting in Brussels. 
 
3.  (C) In general, he said, Austria had little direct 
interest, in terms of economic interaction or an expatriate 
presence, in Venezuela.  Therefore, Austria worked its policy 
toward Venezuela through the EU.  Melan confirmed that COLAT 
and other EU bodies had held detailed discussions on the role 
of Hugo Chavez, the state of democracy in Venezuela, possible 
efforts to destabilize other countries in Latin America, and 
arms purchases, among other issues.  In Melan's view, it was 
"hard to prove" Venezuelan complicity in destabilization 
efforts in the region.  The status of democracy in Venezuela 
was certainly of concern, he said, but it was too early to 
consider Venezuela as having lost its character as a 
democracy.  Melan called Venezuela's support for Cuba 
"disturbing."  Venezuela's financial support had allowed 
Castro once again to ignore international complaints about 
human rights on the island. 
 
4.  (C) The question of whether to engage in election 
monitoring had arisen again, he noted.  The EU had not 
accepted Venezuela's invitation to observe the July 2005 
parliamentary elections, because Venezuela would not 
guarantee that EU monitors could go wherever they wanted. 
The same problem was likely to block EU agreement to monitor 
the July 2006 elections. 
 
5.  (C) More broadly, Austria was already preparing to host 
the EU's May 12, 2006 summit meeting with Latin American and 
Caribbean countries in Vienna, Melan noted.  The Austrians 
were already estimating that this would be the largest 
diplomatic gathering ever to take place in Vienna.  (This is 
significant for a city that prides itself on serving as a 
diplomatic platform.)  The Austrians would accommodate the 
event at the new conference facilities at the Prater, he said. 
Brown