EU PUZZLED BY MOLDOVA'S STABILITY PACT INITIATIVE; MOSCOW RESPONSE IS KEY

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRUSSELS 002541

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/ERA AND EUR/UMB

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/15/2009
TAGS: PARM PBTS PREL OSCEL EUN MDD USEU BRUSSELS
SUBJECT: EU PUZZLED BY MOLDOVA'S STABILITY PACT INITIATIVE;
MOSCOW RESPONSE IS KEY

REF: A. A. STATE 1292081.


B. B. DUBLIN 983

C. C. CHISENAU 637

D. D. MOSCOW 8164 AND PREVIOUS

Classified By: USEU POLOFF LEE LITZENBERGER; REASONS 1.5 (B,D)

(C) On June 14, Poloff presented ref (A) demarche to Kees
Van Rij and Carl Hartzell of the EU Council's Policy Planning
Staff. They appreciated the information, and agreed that the
proposed Stability Pact could have value if -- in modified
form -- it leads to further Russian engagement. Thus,
Russia's response to the demarche would be critical, they
said. Van Rij will informally sound the Russians out later
this week, he said. If the notion has traction in Moscow,
the EU would support further discussion, he said, but
otherwise was skeptical of the proposal's usefulness.


2. (C) Van Rij confirmed Dublin's readout (ref B) that EU
Foreign Ministers meeting June 14-15 in Brussels would not
reference the Stability Pact proposal directly in their
public conclusions. Ministers planned to issue conclusions
on Moldova, but these are meant to complement an earlier
private letter from Irish PM Ahern to Russian President Putin
urging Russia to agree to pentagonal talks as proposed by the
U.S. The EU conclusions would include language stressing the
importance of Moldova's "territorial integrity," but the EU
needs more time to consider the proposal before issuing a
public statement on it. Hartzell noted that the proposal is
viewed by opposition leaders in Moldova as "cheap
electioneering" by Voronin, and the EU does not want to get
enmeshed in election politics. Van Rij said he would query
Moldovan leaders the initiative later in the week, when they
come to Brussels to wrap up discussions on a joint "Action
Plan" under the EU's new European Neighborhood Partnership
initiative.


3. (C) Van Rij said he was puzzled by the Moldovan text,
which struck him as very "19th century" and anachronistic.
It appeared to be directed at Russia and Romania, in an
effort to elicit their endorsement of Moldova's borders. He
and Hartzell questioned how -- and whether -- the proposal
was linked to the ongoing OSCE 5-sided initiative to resolve
the Transnistrian conflict. Van Rij said the Moldovan
Ambassador in Brussels was "utterly uninformed" about the
initiative, further raising questions about its origins and
purpose. Van Rij noted that the inclusion of Romania was
"complicated." It could complicate further Romania's bid to
join the EU in that it raises the issue of the un-signed
Romanian-Moldovan border agreement. The EU's understanding
is that Romania's response to the Stability Pact has been
"cautious but interested." On the one hand, Bucharest was
encouraged that it was included but, on the other hand, it
doesn't want to "internationalize" the status of the border
agreement, which it views as a purely bilateral issue.

SCHNABEL