US embassy cable - 05VIENNA2828

C O N F I D E N T I A L VIENNA 002828 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/ERA AND EUR/AGS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/23/2015 
 
TAGS: KPAL, PREL, IS, HR, IR, AU, EUN 
SUBJECT: PRE-GYMNICH DEMARCHE: AUSTRIAN RESPONSE 
 
REF: A) STATE 153187 B) VIENNA 2827 
 
Classified By: ECONOMIC-POLITICAL COUNSELOR GREGORY E. PHILLIPS 
 
REASONS: 1.4 (B) AND (D) 
 
1.  (C) Embassy Vienna delivered reftel points on August 22 
 
to MFA Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) Director 
 
Andreas Riecken.  Riecken said that the UK Presidency had not 
 
circulated a final agenda for the meeting.  Given the 
 
ostensibly informal nature of the Gymnich, it was difficult 
 
to predict which Foreign Minister might want to raise an 
 
off-agenda topic.  Still, Riecken noted that China and 
 
Venezuela did not figure in the EU draft papers for the 
 
conference, and might not come up at all. On the other hand, 
 
Riecken said there would be a discussion of a UK-sponsored 
 
project, a proposed Arms Trade Treaty to halt illegal global 
 
arms trafficking.  While Turkey and Croatia did not appear on 
 
UK agenda per se, they were presumably subsumed by the rubric 
 
"Enlargement."  (See ref b report for Austrian views on 
 
Turkish accession talks.) 
 
2.  (C) MIDDLE EAST/GAZA DISENGAGEMENT: Riecken believed that 
 
the Foreign Ministers would want to take stock of the 
 
situation in Iraq, including progress on a Constitution.  On 
 
Gaza, Riecken acknowledged that the EU would probably want to 
 
contribute to the disengagement plan as a positive step in 
 
the peace process.  Since the Gymnich could not take formal 
 
decisions, other EU fora would have to work out specific 
 
formulas for EU support for disengagement. 
 
3.  (C) CROATIA: Riecken said that Austria continues to see 
 
itself as an advocate for Croatia's aspirations.   He said 
 
that work was proceeding within the five-member Task Force, 
 
most recently at the Political Director level.  The next 
 
step, in September or October, would be to review prosecutor 
 
Del Ponte's evaluation of Croatian progress toward full 
 
cooperation with ICTY.  The Task Force should also consider 
 
Croatia's action plan for compliance, especially in 
 
investigating and rolling-up the networks that support the 
 
fugitive Gotovina. 
 
4.  (C) POSSIBLE WESTERN BALKANS CONFERENCE: Riecken said 
 
that Austria was now leaning toward hosting a 
 
ministerial-level meeting on economic development and 
 
integration of the Western Balkans into Europe, during its 
 
2006 Presidency (rather than a full-blown Summit follow-up to 
 
the 2003 Thessaloniki conference).  This could take the form 
 
of an add-on to the Gymnich in Salzburg in early 2006, where 
 
five Balkan foreign ministers might join the EU-25.  The 
 
Austrians' thinking on this was still evolving, and would 
 
depend mostly on the outlook for further progress as their 
 
Presidency approaches. 
 
5.  (C) IRAN: Austria and the other EU member states are 
 
closely following the status of talks between Iran and the 
 
EU-3 on shutting down Iran's enrichment program.  Riecken 
 
thought it likely that the EU-3 Foreign Ministers would want 
 
to use the venue of the Gymnich to brief their partners on 
 
the state of play of the talks and their chances for success. 
 
van Voorst