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DE RUEHVI #1649/01 1590912
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R 080912Z JUN 06
FM AMEMBASSY VIENNA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3781
RUEAHLC/HOMELAND SECURITY CENTER WASHINGTON DC
RUEAWJA/DOJ WASHDC
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 VIENNA 001649 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR CA, EUR/ERA, EUR/PGI AND EUR/AGS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV CVIS CPAS KCRM KFRD SMIG EUN AU
SUBJECT:  May 3 EU-U.S. JHA Ministerial Troika 
 
 
VIENNA 00001649  001.2 OF 005 
 
 
THIS MESSAGE IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. 
 
¶1.  Summary.  The U.S. - EU JHA Ministerial Troika was held 
in Vienna May 3 with the U.S. delegation led by Attorney 
General Alberto Gonzales, accompanied by DHS Deputy 
Secretary Michael Jackson.  The EU delegation was headed by 
 
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Austrian Minister of the Interior Prokop, Justice Minister 
Gastinger and EU Commissioner Frattini.  The participants 
stressed the importance of jointly addressing common 
problems such as terrorism, organized crime, border and 
document security, and pledged to expand cooperation and 
data exchange in many of these areas.  With regard to the 
Visa Waiver Program (VWP) the EU urged the establishment of 
a joint U.S.-EU timeline, but DHS Deputy Secretary Jackson 
rejected any firm timeline for VWP expansion.  Both sides 
did agree to exchange technical and other information on the 
issue during the May 16 visit of Commission officials to 
Washington related to the publication of a July 1 Commission 
report.  On the U.S.-EU MLAT, the Austrian Presidency 
pledged to keep the pressure on the 4 member states that 
have yet to sign the bilateral protocol with the U.S.  Both 
sides expressed frustration over the issue of data 
protection which was hindering the negotiation of a U.S. 
cooperation agreement with EUROJUST and likely to provoke an 
extended debate in the European Parliament.  The Attorney 
General underlined the commitment of the U.S. to the rule of 
law in fighting terrorism and said he looked forward to the 
continuation of the dialogue on this issue.  The May 3 
meeting was followed by a May 4 multi presidency meeting 
with the U.S. and Russia and a May 4-5 EU Internal Security 
Ministerial (reported separately). End Summary 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
Agenda Item One - Visa Reciprocity 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Commissioner Frattini opened the Ministerial 
Troika by welcoming President Bush's commitment to pursue 
extension of the visa waiver program (VWP) by means of the 
roadmap process.  He noted the Council's February 
conclusions that directed the Commission to submit a follow- 
up report on visa reciprocity by July 1.  [Note:  Because of 
translation requirements, the text of the report will be 
finalized shortly after Jonathan Faull's May 16 visit to 
Washington.  End note.]  Commissioner Frattini stressed the 
need for the roadmap process to show tangible results.  "To 
keep it credible, we need results," he said, calling fr "a 
real, concrete timeframe."  He posed three questions in 
concluding his remarks:  1) How does he USG see the way 
forward? 2) What are the concete results of the roadmap 
process? 3) Could theUSG consider visa facilitation 
(streamlined applcation procedures, reduction of fees, 
etc.) as a ransitional option? 
 
¶3. (SBU) DHS Deputy Secretay Jackson reaffirmed President 
Bush's commitmentto engage in a deliberative, good faith 
effort wth each of the roadmap countries.  He noted the 
arallels with internal EU efforts and said the U.S.would 
like to "synchronize" efforts with th Schengen evaluation 
process.  He welcomed a multilateral approach while 
stressing the congressional mandate to evaluate each country 
individually in accord with statutorily established 
criteria. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Interior Minister Prokop noted the U.S. and EU were 
taking steps in parallel and said the Schengen expansion 
could dovetail with VWP expansion and suggested a common 
timeframe.  She noted that important security upgrades -- 
the Visa Information System (VIS), Schengen Information 
System upgrade (SIS2) and biometrics passports - would 
enhance border controls in the roadmap countries. 
Commissioner Frattini specified the following timelines:  by 
August 2006, biometrics passports for all Member States; by 
Spring 2007, VIS/SIS2 online; by October 2007, all new 
Member States fully incorporated into Schengen.  DHS Deputy 
Secretary Jackson rejected any firm timeline for VWP 
 
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expansion. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Commissioner Frattini proposed a technical level 
working group on the margins of the Commission's May 16 
visit to Washington in order to obtain a "clearer and deeper 
exchange of concrete information on a state-by-state basis." 
The EU would provide information on the Schengen evaluation 
process with respect to the non-visa waiver countries and 
the U.S. would provide information on the roadmap process, 
both as they relate to enhancing security.  DHS Deputy 
Secretary Jackson said he was willing to assist Commissioner 
 
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Frattini as the Commission drafted a follow-up report to the 
 
VIENNA 00001649  002.2 OF 005 
 
 
Council.  DHS Deputy Secretary Jackson agreed to 
Commissioner Frattini's proposal for a technical working 
group. 
 
----------------------------------- 
Agenda Item Two - Document Security 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Biometric passports:  Interior Minister Prokop said 
the EU would allow legitimate authorities at ports of entry 
to access the biometric chips of new e-passports, which 
would be protected by "basic access control".  She stressed 
that testing with readers was important to ensure 
interoperability and noted the upcoming conference on May 31 
in Berlin, co-sponsored by Germany and the Commission, for 
that purpose.  Interior Minister Prokop said that the EU, 
U.S., Canada and Australia would be invited.  DHS Deputy 
Secretary Jackson welcomed the technical meeting in Berlin, 
 
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stressing the importance of interoperability.  He extended 
an invitation for the EU to observe live tests with 
biometric documents from VWP countries seeking certification 
from DHS. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Interior Minister Prokop also noted the EU was in 
the process of finalizing the technical standards for 
incorporating fingerprints into national passports.  She 
said that EU Member States would be required to begin 
issuing passports with dual biometrics (digital photograph 
and finger scans) by June 2009.  The regulation on technical 
standards would also allow for the possibility of 
transferring data to third countries.  [Note.  In a separate 
meeting on May 4 with the Austrian official responsible for 
e-passports, Heinrich Pawlicek told Embassy Vienna and USEU 
that only two finger scans would be collected for passport 
applications and they would be protected by "extended access 
control".  Fingerprints would be used for one-to-one checks 
only at the European level as a measure to enhance document 
security.  EU Member States, however, would have the freedom 
to run the fingerprints against criminal databases at a 
national level as part of the issuance process.  End note.] 
 
¶8. (SBU) Lost/Stolen Passports:  Interior Minister Prokop 
reviewed the EU's common position on sharing lost/stolen 
passport information with Interpol and said that the EU is 
that largest supplier of data.  She noted that once SIS2 was 
functioning, transfer of data would be facilitated. 
Following up on the joint U.S.-EU mission to Interpol in 
January, Interior Minister Prokop said that Austria was 
prepared to offer a round-the-clock service to answer 
inquiries and resolve hits.  She asked about the status of 
the U.S. pilot to analyze the workload implication for 
extending access to the database to end-users at ports of 
entry. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Interior Minister Prokop lamented that only 15 EU 
Member States have confirmed they are using the database. 
She said that a technical meeting on May 16 (venue 
undetermined) would analyze why the Interpol database was 
not being better utilized.  Participants would also analyze 
Switzerland's current method of systematically querying all 
data from consulates and ports of entry against the Interpol 
database. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Deputy Secretary Jackson noted DHS's new reporting 
requirement on lost/stolen passports for VWP countries and 
gave a positive assessment of the joint mission to Lyon.  He 
said that more information should be provided on lost/stolen 
passports and briefly touched upon the potential value of 
additional information fields.   DHS Deputy Secretary 
Jackson urged that lost/stolen passports intercepted by 
authorities should be seized.  He also called for common 
reporting mechanisms. 
 
------------------------------------- 
Agenda Item Three - Counter-Terrorism 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶11.  (SBU) Radicalization and Recruitment:   Interior 
Minister Prokop recalled EU adoption of its Counter- 
terrorism strategy in December, which focused on Islamic 
fundamentalism and aimed to prevent radicalization and 
recruitment and encourage moderate Islamists by all 
diplomatic means.  She urged ratification of all anti- 
terrorist conventions, the adoption of a media strategy and 
a common definition of terrorism, as well as a focus on 
cyber-crime.  She noted the many meetings on these subjects 
taking place during the Austrian Presidency. 
 
 
VIENNA 00001649  003.2 OF 005 
 
 
¶12.  (SBU) The Attorney General agreed on the need to 
encourage moderate Islamists to speak out and called for an 
international consensus to combat terrorism.  He noted the 
necessity to balance free speech and incitement and agreed 
on the need to prevent the use of the internet by 
terrorists.  He urged that the EU and U.S. work together on 
the issue of radicalization and recruitment, noting his 
concern over Jihadists who come to Iraq and then leave to 
spread terrorism elsewhere.  He urged the identification of 
"best practices" to prevent radicalization, especially in 
prisons and schools and suggested that we look at revising 
criminal statutes to deal with such things as payments to 
the families of bombers, etc. 
 
¶13.  (SBU) Commissioner Frattini noted that the Commission 
had established a permanent group on radicalization and 
recruitment, which has issued a tender for a study of 
violent radicalization.  He saw this as an issue ripe for 
transatlantic cooperation, especially in the area of threat 
analysis and information exchange.  He also saw a need for a 
clear definition of incitement, especially when the internet 
was used to spread terrorist propaganda and bomb-making 
instructions.  He urged a focus on critical infrastructure 
protection where public/private cooperation was absolutely 
essential. 
 
¶14.  (SBU) EUCounter-Terrorism Chief DeVries urged that 
Eurojust be strengthened to fight against terrorism and te 
Finnish representative said that the Finnish Pesidency 
would concentrate on internet crime andradicalization and 
recruitment.  Interior Ministr Prokop urged practical 
cooperation between the .S. and EU and Justice Minister 
Gastinger again ncouraged the ratification of all 
outstanding ani-terrorist conventions. 
 
¶15.  (SBU) Critical Inrastructure protection and 
consequence managemen:  Interior Minister Prokop described 
EU actions n this field, including the creation of a manua 
on crisis management with contact points.  Commissioner 
Frattini called for greater U.S.-EU cooperation in this 
field in order to optimize resources and expertise.  He 
urged the creation of a rapid response mechanism and noted 
that the Argus system linked EU emergency systems together 
in case of terrorist or health crisis. 
 
¶16.  (SBU) DHS Deputy Secretary Jackson agreed that it was 
essential to cooperate in this field, noting that the U.S. 
is spending large sums on explosive detection technology and 
there were many advantages to joint R & D on such projects. 
He said the U.S. has learned some hard lessons regarding 
infrastructure protection and had just established a new 
directorate to deal with the problem.  We were willing to 
share our experience with the EU.  He agreed on the need to 
encourage public/private partnerships, particularly in areas 
such as chemical security. 
 
¶17.  (SBU) Counter-Terrorism and Human Rights:  Interior 
Minister Prokop noted that maintaining western values was 
the best way to fight terrorism and expressed her 
appreciation that State Department Legal Adviser John 
Bellinger was willing to participate in a dialogue on these 
issues.  Justice Minister Gastinger cited the alleged 
difference of approach between the EU and the U.S. in 
fighting terrorism as one source of the problem.   The U.S. 
saw this as a "war, whereas the EU was more concerned with 
the rule of law. She said the EU wants to cooperate with the 
U.S. on the basis of trust and confidence and be seen as a 
reliable partner.  She urged that the dialogue continue in 
order to forge a common approach to the problem. 
 
¶18. (SBU) The Attorney General replied that the U. S. is 
committed to the rule of law, although we do see the fight 
against terrorism in a difference perspective than the EU. 
It does involve a military campaign, but we also use laws to 
persecute terrorists, when applicable.  The EU has its own 
laws and instruments, some of which do not exist in the U.S. 
He said that he understood the U.S. had much at stake in 
promoting human rights and it was important that the U.S. 
position be clearly and correctly understood.  He therefore 
looked forward to continuation of the dialogue. 
 
¶19. (SBU) EU Counter-Terrorism Chief DeVries noted a 
delegation from the European Parliament would soon be 
visiting Washington to discuss these issues and hoped that 
the dialogue in Washington would be a fruitful one. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
Agenda Item 4 - EU-US MLA and Extradition Agreements 
 
VIENNA 00001649  004.2 OF 005 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶20.  (U) Justice Minister Gastinger noted that it has been 
three years since the negotiation of the U.S.-EU MLAT and 21 
of 25 bilateral protocols necessary to implement it had been 
signed.  She urged the Czechs, Italians, Maltese and Poles 
to sign as soon as possible and said that the Austrian 
Presidency would keep the pressure on EU Member States to 
sign and ratify the agreements. 
 
¶21.  (U) The Attorney General thanked the Austrian 
Presidency for its efforts and hoped that once all EU Member 
States had signed there could be a public event to mark the 
occasion.  He said the U.S. would await the signature to the 
protocols by all EU Member States before submitting the MLAT 
to the U.S. Congress for its ratification.  He also 
indicated that we would have to jointly consider how best to 
train our respective practitioners on how to use these 
instruments 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
Agenda Item 5 - EU-U.S. Operational Cooperation 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶22. (SBU) Organized Crime Threat Assessment:  Commissioner 
Frattini said that the Commission has done an analysis of 
organized crime which indicates four categories of threat - 
a) indigenous; b) ethnic; c) organized networks; and d) 
others such as biker gangs, etc.  All were involved in 
various aspects of crime, including drug trafficking, fraud, 
cyber-crime, money laundering and theft of intellectual 
property.  EUROPOL Head Ratzel noted that there was no 
common EU threat, but distinct regional patterns.  He 
praised U.S.-EU cooperation. 
 
¶23. (SBU) The Attorney General indicated his own interest in 
this area and pledged to share U.S. threat assessments.  He 
also expressed a willingness to provide training and other 
assistance. 
 
¶24.  (SBU) Operational Cooperation with Europol:  Interior 
Minister Prokop emphasized that multilateral cooperation 
should not interfere with bilateral efforts.  EUROPOL head 
Ratzel recalled his recent visit to Washington and the 
support he received there related to exchange of best 
practices and expanded training opportunities, including the 
FBI Academy and CEPOL.  He noted two areas of concern - 
first that the current EUROPOL convention did not allow the 
sharing of some analytical data with the U.S. and secondly 
the fact that the FBI was unsure of the validity of 
confidential exchanges with EUROPOL.  He urged EU Member 
 
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States to ratify the relevant EU proposed protocols which 
would correct the former situation and said he would attempt 
to work out the latter issue with the FBI.  Interior 
Minister Prokop added that EU Member States are interested 
in exchanging data and a way must be found to share and 
protect it. 
 
¶25.  (SBU) Negotiation of a Cooperation Agreement with 
Eurojust:  Justice Minister Gastinger expressed her 
frustration at the delay in negotiating a U.S. - EUROJUST 
cooperation agreement, noting that the issue of data 
protection was a problem which she hoped could be overcome 
when U.S.-EUROJUST negotiations began again in mid-May. 
EUROJUST Chief Kennedy agreed that the key was how to 
balance data protection and the sharing of information.  He 
expressed EUROJUST's willingness to host a conference of 
counter-terrorist prosecutors.  Commissioner Frattini urged 
that child pornography also constitute an element of U.S. 
cooperation with EUROJUST. 
 
¶26. (SBU) The Attorney General said he welcomed expanded 
cooperation on child pornography and asked why the EUROJUST 
agreement could not be modeled on the one the U.S. has with 
EUROPOL.  EUROJUST Chief Kennedy replied that new data 
privacy rules had come into effect and the situation was now 
completely different. 
 
¶27.  (SBU) Cooperation in Law Enforcement Training: 
Commissioner Frattini saw the possibility of CEPOL and FBI 
cooperation as very promising and said the EU was very 
interested in expanding this.  The Attorney General welcomed 
an expansion of training. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
Agenda Item 6 - Framework Decision on Data Protection 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
 
VIENNA 00001649  005.2 OF 005 
 
 
¶28. (SBU)   Interior Minister Prokop said this was an 
ongoing difficult debate in the European Parliament and 
between Member States.  Justice Miniter Gastinger agreed, 
noting that different Membr States have taken completely 
opposing positionon the draft framework proposal.  The need 
was t find a balance between law enforcement requirements 
for data exchanges and protection of the rightsof ciizens 
- it may take awhile.  Commissioner rattini said there was 
a risk that the European arliament may hold the framework 
decision hostag to other issues, but he claimed that 
existing U..-EU agreements would not be affected, whatever 
he outcome. 
 
¶29. (SBU) The Attorney General welcmed the assurances 
provided by Commissioner Frattini, but said he remained 
concerned about the effect on current informal arrangements 
to exchange information.  He hoped this could be resolved by 
the experts.  DHS Deputy Secretary Jackson agreed and noted 
that since 9/11 the U.S. and the EU had found many creative 
ways to expand the information flow.  He urged that this 
creativity not be stifled by a more restrictive 
interpretation.  The Finnish representative noted that 
Finland had hoped to get the draft framework decision 
adopted during its Presidency, but it no longer looked as if 
this would be possible. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
Agenda Item 7 - International Cooperation Concerning 
Pandemic Influenza 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶30. (U) DHS Deputy Secretary Jackson described in detail the 
just released U.S. implementation plan for the national 
strategy for pandemic influenza and stressed the President's 
commitment to this issue.  Interior Minister Prokop noted 
the upcoming June Vienna meeting on this subject and urged 
the U.S. to share any relevant information with the Minister 
of Health. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
Agenda Item 8 - EU Strategy for the External Dimension of 
JHA 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
 
¶31. (SBU) Interior Minister Prokop noted the effort by the 
Austrian President to implement an external JHA strategy, 
pointing to the forthcoming May 4-5 Multi-Presidency 
Ministerial and the Internal Security Ministerial.  She 
indicated that the Austrians would introduce action-oriented 
papers on the Western Balkans and Afghan drug trafficking. 
 
McCaw