VZCZCXYZ0003
OO RUEHWEB
DE RUEHVI #0412 0461437
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 151437Z FEB 07
FM AMEMBASSY VIENNA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6364
INFO RUEHTH/AMEMBASSY ATHENS PRIORITY 0808
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN PRIORITY 1700
RUEHSW/AMEMBASSY BERN PRIORITY 1095
RUEHSL/AMEMBASSY BRATISLAVA PRIORITY 1998
RUEHBS/AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS PRIORITY 1196
RUEHCP/AMEMBASSY COPENHAGEN PRIORITY 0475
RUEHDL/AMEMBASSY DUBLIN PRIORITY 0220
RUEHHE/AMEMBASSY HELSINKI PRIORITY 0436
RUEHLI/AMEMBASSY LISBON PRIORITY 0381
RUEHLJ/AMEMBASSY LJUBLJANA PRIORITY 1477
RUEHLE/AMEMBASSY LUXEMBOURG PRIORITY 0124
RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID PRIORITY 0769
RUEHNY/AMEMBASSY OSLO PRIORITY 0461
RUEHPG/AMEMBASSY PRAGUE PRIORITY 1443
RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA PRIORITY 0462
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 2712
RUEHSF/AMEMBASSY SOFIA PRIORITY 1110
RUEHSM/AMEMBASSY STOCKHOLM PRIORITY 0472
RUEHTL/AMEMBASSY TALLINN PRIORITY 0571
RUEHTC/AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE PRIORITY 1021
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 0357
RUEHWR/AMEMBASSY WARSAW PRIORITY 1344
UNCLAS VIENNA 000412
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
STATE FOR IO/UNP - GERMANO AND EUR/AGS - SAINT-ANDRE
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL UN IZ AU
SUBJECT: AUSTRIA ON UN MIDDLE RING SECURITY IN IRAQ
REF: STATE 17022
1. EconPolCouns delivered reftel demarche on February 15 to
Peter Huber, the Austrian MFA's deputy Director for
International Organizations Affairs, and Ralph Scheide, the
MFA's Middle East and Africa Director.
2. Huber said Austria considered the UN role in Iraq to be
an important one. Huber said he would favor participation in
funding the Distinct Entity Trust Fund. However, he said it
would be extremely difficult for Austria to make such funds
available.
3. Huber explained that the Austrian Finance Ministry, which
has authority over budgetting, would only provide funds to
the Foreign Ministry for its "legal obligations" to the UN.
These included funds for the peacekeeping budget and for the
regular budget. The Finance Ministry would not agree to
provide funds to the Foreign Ministry for discretionary
spending, which included voluntary contributions such as
those for the Distinct Entity Trust Fund. In addition, the
new Austrian government has not yet concluded its biennial
budget, and there are currently no funds for new spending
initiatives.
McCaw