US embassy cable - 05VIENNA2994

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 VIENNA 002994 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/AGS - VIKMANIS-KELLER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/08/2015 
 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, ETRD, CVIS, AU 
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR BROWN'S MEETING WITH FONMIN PLASSNIK, 
 
 
SEPTEMBER 7, 2005 
 
Classified By: Ambassador W.L. Lyons Brown.  Reasons:  1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1.  (C) The Ambassador called on Foreign Minister Plassnik in 
 
advance of her September 9 meeting with the Secretary in 
 
Washington to review topics that are expected to be 
 
discussed.  These included: 
 
--  Hurricane Katrina:  The Ambassador thanked the Minister 
 
for Austria,s offers of a Disaster Response Team (water 
 
purification, chemical decontamination, search and rescue) as 
 
well as personnel and equipment for the EU assistance offer 
 
(crisis intervention team, fire department liaison, 
 
communications support unit, and survival equipment).  He 
 
assured Plassnik the Austrians would hear from us immediately 
 
if the disaster management authorities decided to take up the 
 
Austrian bilateral offer. 
 
--  Turkey Accession.  Alluding to differences we had picked 
 
up from EU capitals regarding Austria,s activities vis--vis 
 
Turkish accession and Vienna,s intentions for the October 3 
 
start of accession talks, the Ambassador said the Secretary 
 
would be extremely interested in hearing first-hand what the 
 
Austrian leadership had in mind.  Plassnik said she did not 
 
want the U.S. to have the wrong impression of Austrian views. 
 
Austria,s position was consistent: there should be no new 
 
conditions placed on Turkey, and no doors should be shut. 
 
She said Austria had put its cards on the table in her August 
 
letter to Jack Straw (ref a).  She said she had told the 
 
British it was not enough to rubberstamp the Commission 
 
decision; the recent referenda and the obvious "crisis of 
 
public confidence" made it necessary for the EU leadership to 
 
hold a serious political discussion on Turkey.  Plassnik said 
 
she had proposed clarifying language regarding the openness 
 
of the negotiations (point 7 in the negotiating framework) 
 
which she had discussed with the Commission and would further 
 
discuss with Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn on September 
 
7.  Austria did not link EU accession and Cyprus recognition 
 
nor did it link Turkish and Croatian accession.  Plassnik 
 
said she had explained to ForMin Gul in a lengthy discussion 
 
in Wales that EU commitments to Turkey were not in question. 
 
She said she hopes it will be possible to find the right 
 
language for the negotiating framework to show the European 
 
publics that their leaders have heard their concerns. 
 
-- US-EU Summit.  The Ambassador acknowledged Austria,s 
 
desire for a Bush visit during the Austrian presidency but 
 
advised Plassnik that the Austrians may not get an answer 
 
from Washington until after the New Year or sometime next 
 
spring. Plassnik said she was not surprised and understood 
 
why the president could not yet commit.  Since she expected 
 
the Austria press to continue to pressure the Schuessel 
 
government for news on this point, Plassnik planned to raise 
 
the raise the invitation with the Secretary to be able to 
 
tell the press she had done so. 
 
--  Afghanistan.  The Ambassador thanked Plassnik for 
 
Austria,s contributions to Afghan security during the fall 
 
elections, noted DefMin Platter,s recent suggestion that 
 
Austria might consider sending another contingent to 
 
Afghanistan during 2006, and expressed the hope that Plassnik 
 
would be as helpful in making another contribution possible 
 
next year as she had been in engineering the present 
 
deployment. Plassnik did not commit herself, but observed 
 
that Platter was doing a good job in explaining the 
 
contingent,s activities to the Austrian public. 
 
--  Iran trade.  The Ambassador said that the Secretary would 
 
certainly raise the serious U.S. concerns regarding 
 
Austria,s trade with Iran.  While the U.S. knew the Austrian 
 
business community was putting considerable pressure on the 
 
government to support all possible trade opportunities with 
 
Iran, the Ambassador said the U.S. had and always would 
 
vigorously oppose any trade involving weapons or dual use 
 
items.  He reminded the minister that the proposed opening of 
 
an Iranian Technical Cooperation Office (TCO) had generated 
 
high tensions in the U.S.-Austrian relationship last year. 
 
The U.S. was pleased that the Austrian government had decided 
 
not to allow the TCO opening, and had also curtailed the sale 
 
of sniper rifles, but this was an area she could expect the 
 
U.S. to continue to watch carefully and with considerable 
 
concern.  The Minister made no comment. 
 
--  November Conference on "Islam in a Pluralistic World." 
 
While noting that no formal invitations had been received in 
 
Washington, the Ambassador said the U.S. Embassy had passed 
 
on to the Department what we had been told of Austrian plans 
 
for inviting U/S Karen Hughes and A/S Dan Fried to the 
 
November 14 event.  Plassnik said she was still mulling over 
 
how to shape the Vienna conference and would welcome U.S. 
 
advice.  Afghan President Karzai had accepted; she thought 
 
former Iranian President Khatami had at least informally 
 
accepted.  The Austrians wanted to offer the U.S. a useful 
 
platform for reaching out to the Islamic world and its 
 
"legitimate leaders."  Since the Austrians believe the 
 
conference needs strong U.S. attendance to make it 
 
worthwhile, the ForMin plans to ask the Secretary for advice. 
 
--  Restitution Issues.  Observing that the Austrian Embassy 
 
in Washington had suggested that the minister intended to 
 
raise restitution with the Secretary, the Ambassador asked 
 
how the minister intended to approach the subject.  Plassnik 
 
explained that she might mention it in passing as an example 
 
of good, steady Austrian-U.S. cooperation, but would not 
 
devote time to it. 
 
--  Schuessel Visit to U.S.  The Ambassador informed Plassnik 
 
that the White House had been provided the dates the 
 
Chancellor would be available for a visit to Washington in 
 
December. 
 
--  Biometric passports.  Drawing on ref (b), the Ambassador 
 
turned to the probable consequences for Austrian visitors to 
 
the U.S. of Austria,s inability to institute digitalized 
 
passport photos by the October 26 deadline.  Plassnik said 
 
this was the first she had heard of the problem (although her 
 
aide confirmed the item was in the minister,s briefing book) 
 
and was clearly appalled by the prospect that thousands of 
 
Austrian visitors to the U.S. after October 26 would be 
 
required to get visas. Plassnik said this would be a "major 
 
political issue" for her government, predicting that the 
 
Austrian press would maul her if she emerged from a meeting 
 
with the Secretary to spread the bad news to Austrian 
 
travelers. 
 
--  Ambassador,s departure from post.  The Ambassador said 
 
that he was tentatively planning to leave Vienna on October 
 
5, and thanked Plassnik for her cooperation. 
 
--  Plassnik,s travel:  She will visit Russian on October 6 
 
and was holding September 26 for a possible EU meeting on 
 
Turkey. 
 
Brown