This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS VIENNA 003883 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR NEA AND EUR/AGS - VIKMANIS-KELLER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL IZ AU EUN
SUBJECT: AUSTRIA NAMES CHARGE IN BAGHDAD FOR THE DURATION 
OF ITS EU PRESIDENCY 
 
REF: VIENNA 3818 
 
¶1.  (SBU) On December 13, the Austrian government announced 
that journalist and Middle East expert Gudrun Harrer will 
head Austria's diplomatic mission in Baghdad during the 
Austrian EU presidency, from January through June 2006.  The 
Foreign Ministry's assistant secretary-level Director for 
Middle East and African Affairs, Ralph Scheide, told us that 
Harrer would serve as both the Austrian Presidency's Special 
Envoy to Iraq and also the Austrian Charge d'Affaires. 
(Scheide explained that Austrian law does not permit 
non-career appointees to assume the title of Ambassador.) 
Harrer will arrive before January 1, Scheide said. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Austria currently has no diplomatic presence in 
Iraq, but rather covers the country from its embassy in 
Amman.  Austria's trade delegations in Iraq -- an existing 
office in Baghdad and a new one in Irbil (reftel) -- will 
come under Harrer's authority, Scheide told us.  Austrian 
diplomatic offices will be housed in British facilities 
inside the Green Zone -- an arrangement, Scheide said, for 
which the GOA will pay "a lot" of money to the British. 
Scheide said he expected Harrer to have a small staff. 
 
¶3.  (U) In announcing Harrer's appointment, Foreign Minister 
Ursula Plassnik said, "A secure, stable and united Iraq is in 
the interest of the European Union.  Therefore, EU member 
states have participated actively, within their capabilities, 
in international efforts to support Iraq's political and 
economic reconstruction."  As EU President, Austria needs its 
own diplomatic presence in Baghdad, "in order to pursue the 
duties of the EU presidency at the scene." 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Bio note:  Harrer has been a consultant to Plassnik 
on Middle East issues since Plassnik assumed her position in 
December 2004.  Harrer is the foreign policy editor of the 
Vienna newspaper "Der Standard."  She is also a Middle East 
expert who has written several books on Iraq and lectures in 
modern Arab history at the University of Vienna.  Harrer has 
been a close contact of the Embassy.  She speaks excellent 
English. 
MCCAW