The best Vienna coffee for the diplomatic spirit?
(B2) After Geneva, which had hosted two meetings on Syria, to try to find a solution to the Syrian conflict, it is now the Austrian capital which is favored by diplomats to host a new round of negotiations.
The charm of Viennese coffee
The Viennese coffee, its small chocolate and the glass of water, placed delicately, will the unequaled waiters have more charm than the Swiss smoothness? Or is it the little scent of the Cold War that has long surrounded the Austrian capital that excites the chief diplomats. Unless it's the famous Sacher Torte — invented for the needs of Chancellor Metternich's guests — that melts under your tongue. We don't know... But this round seems at least a little more realistic, due to the involvement of almost all the actors and protagonists of the conflict (1). Which was not the case previously.
When the military favors the political?
Paradoxically, it is the exteriorised, visible military commitment of most of the participants present that makes negotiations more credible today. The airstrikes in Syria by the Americans - which dragged down the French and the British in their wake - marked a turning point. But it is above all the Russian commitment, in the end, which has unblocked a tense situation. Even regional actors, often discreet about their commitments (Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey...), no longer hide behind dialectical convolutions. For the first time since the beginning of the conflict, we are thus taking stock of the regional, even international dimension of this conflict.
Following in the footsteps of world-Iran reconciliation
The Iranian nuclear deal has also paved the way for Iran's reintegration into the world arena. The invitation to Vienna is thus the first concrete consequence, at the diplomatic level, of this agreement. Will the spirit of Vienna which had presided, for several laborious months, over a positive outcome of these discussions be able to reign over these first diplomatic touches on Syria. We hope...
Why Vienna?
I put the question to several diplomats. Finding a trading town is already quite an art based on very subtle notions.
A city of the United Nations
« We usually choose a city where there is a UN representation explains one of them. Vienna has thus often been chosen as a place of difficult international negotiations in the past completes another. The UN is located in the Austrian capital, so there is " a very dense network of diplomatic representations. The infrastructure for international negotiations is absolutely there »
... accustomed to the Cold War
To this we can add the presence of the OSCE, "the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe" surviving discussions of the Cold War. Vienna is also one of the cities which has practiced the art of difficult negotiations between the two blocs. In 1973, it hosted the negotiation on the reduction of forces - Mutual and Balance Force Reduction, between the great powers of the time, the representatives of the Warsaw Pact and those of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). In 2006-2007, it hosted the negotiations on the final status of Kosovo, between Belgrade and Pristina, under the aegis of the UN mediator Martti Ahtisaari.
... difficult negotiations
The other condition for the organization of such a conference is the commitment of the host State. Such an international conference requires significant mobilization, both in terms of security and a diplomatic corps capable of organizing the ballet of delegations so that they do not cross paths or, on the contrary, meet discreetly or by chance. The imperial setting of the former capital of the Habsburgs which hosted one of the first conferences of the modern era, the Congress of Vienna in 1814-1815 is also no stranger to the charm of the city which grew in the shadow of the Danube.
The spirit of Vienna
This history is carefully maintained and perpetuated by red and white diplomacy. We can even speak of a proactive policy. The side " dynamic and active Austrian Foreign Minister (Sebastian Kurz) has undoubtedly also been an important factor in the recent increase in the number of international discussions in Vienna notes a local diplomat. During the Iran negotiations, when the negotiators did not agree on a place of negotiations, when Sebastian Kurz has " offered to host the talks in Vienna, this offer was accepted by the negotiating parties says a regular in the diplomatic corridors. In the end, after long days, long weeks of negotiations, Vienna left " a very good impression on the negotiators ". To the point that they may have wanted to come back...
The Imperial Torte!
Only difference. These are no longer the walls of the Cobourg Palace Hotel which will house the heart of the negotiations but those of the Imperial Hotel. A hotel known to some of the protagonists, since during the negotiations with Iran, the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, resided there.
(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)
(1) Besides the United States and Russia, the allies of the Damascus regime (Iraq, Iran, Lebanon) and its adversaries (Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, Turkey) and 5 Europeans (France, Germany, United Kingdom) are normally present. United, Italy + European Union)
