Ambition and Reality

Ambassador Franz Cede was admitted to the Austrian Foreign Ministry in 1972. In his diplomatic career Cede first worked at the Austrian embassies in Paris and Rabat. He was later appointed ambassador to Zaire (Congo), Consul General in Los Angeles, ambassador to Russia and in Brussels where he was Austrian ambassador to Belgium and to NATO. In Vienna, Ambassador Cede was assigned to the International Law Office of the Foreign Ministry. He was Director of the International Law Office from 1993 to 1999. Ambassador Cede is the author and editor of numerous publications in the fields of international law, European law and international relations. He taught at the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna and the Andrássy University in Budapest and is presently teaching at Webster University in Vienna. Ambassador Christian Prosl worked with the UN Development Program (UNDP) in Burkina Faso and Rwanda from 1973 to 1977. In 1977 he joined the Foreign Ministry and was assigned to the embassies in London and Washington, followed by an assignment as Head of the Secretary General's Coordination Office in the Foreign Ministry in Vienna. From 1991 to 1995 he served as Consul General in Los Angeles. Back in Vienna, he was appointed Head of the Department for Western and Northern Europe and acted as Head of the Legal and Consular Section from 1998 to 2002. From 2003 to 2009 he served as Austrian ambassador in Berlin, followed by an assignment as ambassador to the US until 2011. He retired in December 2011. Since 2012 he has been the president of the Austrian Cultural Association.