EUROPEANS ASK IF U.S. WILL BE MORE FORTHCOMING ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 003617 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/02/2007 TAGS: EFIN PREL US JO SUBJECT: EUROPEANS ASK IF U.S. WILL BE MORE FORTHCOMING ON JORDAN DEBT RELIEF AT JULY 9 PARIS CLUB REF: A. PARIS 4438 ¶B. AMMAN 3519 Classified By: Amb. Edward W. Gnehm for reasons 1.5 (B) and (D) ¶1. (C) During a regular monthly breakfast meeting July 2, new British Ambassador Christopher Prentice told the Ambassador that HMG had been surprised by the conservative stance of the USG on debt relief for Jordan at the June 20 Paris Club meeting (ref a). Prentice noted that PM Blair and FonSec Straw had committed the UK to support "as generous as possible" debt rescheduling for Jordan. Straw's most recent letter had actually indicated a willingness to join consensus for "full stock rescheduling." When the Ambassador said he was not aware that the British representative presented this position in Paris on June 20, Prentice confirmed that, although the UK representative had instructions to be more forthcoming, he remained silent in the face of the USG's opposition to anything greater than Houston terms for Jordan. Prentice added that he believes the UK is, in fact, prepared to support "Houston plus" terms with a longer consolidation period (as FinMin Marto requested of the Ambassador, ref b) in the July 9 Paris Club meeting -- unless the U.S. again opposes such relief. ¶2. (C) DCM spoke separately July 2 with Spanish DCM Jose Luis Cuerdo, who said that the general consensus among EU states is to support rescheduling "on generous terms" for Jordan. Cuerdo concluded, based on discussions while Spain was EU President, that EU member support for Jordan did not go as far as it otherwise would have because the U.S. and Japan were not prepared to join a more forthcoming consensus at the June 20 meeting. Cuerdo commented that Spain could not support the complete debt reprofiling for which Jordan had originally asked, but would support terms more generous than those discussed on June 20, absent opposition from the U.S. and Japan. Gnehm