US embassy cable - 05VIENNA2276

C O N F I D E N T I A L VIENNA 002276 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/ERA - BISHARAT AND EUR/AGS - VIKMANIS-KELLER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/06/2015 
TAGS: PREL, AU, EUN 
SUBJECT: AUSTRIAN REACTION TO DEMARCHE IN ADVANCE OF THE 
JULY 18-19 FOREIGN MINISTERS MEETING (GAERC) 
 
REF: STATE 124856 
 
Classified By: Economic-Political Counselor Gregory E. Phillips.  Reaso 
n:  1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1.  (SBU) EconPolCouns presented reftel demarche on July 6 to 
Andreas Riecken, the Austrian Foreign Ministry's EU 
Correspondent and ESDP Coordinator. 
 
2.  (C) Riecken had the following reactions to our points: 
 
--  On China, the EU is preparing for the EU-China Summit in 
New York in early September.  As we noted, there are no 
indications that the UK presidency will take up the issue of 
the arms embargo. 
 
--  On Turkey, Riecken said there is "no doubt that 
negotiations will begin on October 3."  The European 
Commission will present the framework for the negotiations on 
July 18. 
 
--  On the High Level Event (HLE), Riecken said Austrian 
President Heinz Fischer would attend. 
 
--  On Uzbekistan, the discussion, Riecken said, would be on 
how to deal with the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement. 
Some member states are calling for an escalation of activity, 
and some for the opposite. 
 
3.  (C) The GAERC agenda would also include Zimbabwe, the 
Middle East Peace Process, and the World Trade Organization, 
Riecken said.  In addition, there would be a "reference" to 
Croatia.  Riecken said he did not expect the meeting to 
result in major decisions, because Carla del Ponte had said 
in June that she would need "two to three months" to assess 
Croatia's action plan. 
 
4.  (C) Riecken said the coming GAERC should be a short 
meeting.  Austria was assuming a new role as part of the EU 
troika.  Austrian Political Director Thomas Mayr-Harting 
would participate as part of the troika at the informal 
Political Directors meeting at Bath. 
Brown