Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
04BRUSSELS2593
2004-06-17 15:52:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Brussels
Cable title:  

MANY EU SUMMIT FOREIGN AND SECURITY POLICY

Tags:  PREL MARR EAID XA XF TU HR RO BG EUN USEU BRUSSELS 
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BRUSSELS 002593 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/17/2014
TAGS: PREL MARR EAID XA XF TU HR RO BG EUN USEU BRUSSELS
SUBJECT: MANY EU SUMMIT FOREIGN AND SECURITY POLICY
DECISIONS PRECOOKED

REF: A. USEU BRUSSELS 2368

B. USEU BRUSSELS 2369

C. USEU BRUSSELS 2502

Classified By: Rick Holtzapple, PolOff, Reason 1.4 (D)

SUMMARY
-------

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BRUSSELS 002593

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/17/2014
TAGS: PREL MARR EAID XA XF TU HR RO BG EUN USEU BRUSSELS
SUBJECT: MANY EU SUMMIT FOREIGN AND SECURITY POLICY
DECISIONS PRECOOKED

REF: A. USEU BRUSSELS 2368

B. USEU BRUSSELS 2369

C. USEU BRUSSELS 2502

Classified By: Rick Holtzapple, PolOff, Reason 1.4 (D)

SUMMARY
--------------


1. (C) During the EU Summit June 17-18 in Brussels, EU
sources tell us EU leaders will approve a range of pre-cooked
decisions on a broad range of foreign policy topics so that
they can focus on Constitutional Treaty negotiations and
top-level appointments (septel). EU leaders are expected to
endorse recent proposals from High Rep Solana and
Commissioner Patten on EU engagement in Iraq, and instruct
foreign ministers to agree on a package of "appropriate first
steps." The EU will also issue fairly anodyne language on
Iran. On the MEPP, EU leaders are to "reaffirm the readiness
of the EU to work with the US and other partners in
cooperating with the countries concerned." Leaders will
agree to start drafting the Accession Treaty for Romania and
Bulgaria in July 2004, open accession negotiations with
Croatia "early in 2005", and "welcome significant progress"
made by Turkey toward qualifying for the start of accession
negotiations. Leaders will also issue a decision outlining
procedures for an ESDP Operations Center. Our initial read of
this ESDP document is that it preserves UK redlines (more
septel). One topic that may see new language is Afghanistan,
depending on the discussion at the Foreign Ministers' June 17
dinner. END SUMMARY.


2. (SBU) The Irish Presidency has released (on www.eu2004.ie)
the Draft Conclusions for this week's EU Summit. Council
sources say this draft can effectively be viewed as the final
Conclusions, since Heads will not have any serious discussion
of most of the topics. At most two hours on Friday morning
are set aside to review the text, and in those two hours the
focus is supposed to be on the Justice and Home Affairs
section. EU FMs, at dinner on Thursday will discuss MEPP,

Iran (on both of which Conclusions are already set) and
Afghanistan (the one topic that might still be added to these
draft Conclusions).

IRAQ: EU TO DECIDE "FIRST STEPS" IN JULY
--------------


3. (SBU) The Summit Conclusions welcome UNSCR 1546 and the
Commission Communication "The EU and Iraq - A Framework for
Engagement" as well as the accompanying letter from High Rep
Solana and External Relations Commissioner Patten (REFS B and
C). The Summit will instruct the July 12-13 GAERC to "agree
appropriate first steps to be taken" that could include:
technical, economic and reconstruction assistance; close
engagement with UN teams, including on elections; enhancing
EU representation in Iraq, as (security) conditions permit;
beginning political dialogue; and urging neighbors to be
constructive. EU leaders also propose an EU-Iraq Troika
(presumably at FM-level) with the "new Iraqi government as
soon as possible" and an invitation to the Iraqi PM to
address the EU's General Affairs and External Relations
Council (GAERC). Conclusions also "welcome the possibility
of an international meeting to support the Iraqi political
transition and Iraqi recovery." The Summit Conclusions do
not repeat June 14 GAERC's mention of the prisoner abuse
issue.

BMENA: "READINESS TO WORK WITH U.S."
--------------


4. (SBU) The summit will endorse the "Strategic Partnership
with the Mediterranean and the Middle East" highlighting
familiar themes. In the section directly relevant to the
Broader Middle East and North Africa initiative, EU
"reaffirms the readiness of the EU to work with the U.S. and
other partners in cooperating with the countries concerned.
It looks forward to reviewing the MEPP and exploring the
possibilities for coordinating our respective efforts to
assist the reform process at the coming EU-US Summit on 26
June 2004." The Summit will also issue a page and a half of
Conclusions specifically on the Middle East Peace Process,
but these include nothing of substance that the EU has not
already said several times before, including reaffirmation of
the centrality of the road map.

IRAN: WAITING FOR THE IAEA
--------------


5. (C) In a single paragraph on Iran, the EU "stresses the
Union's desire to move towards a closer relationship with
Iran, on the basis of action by Iran to address the EU's
concerns" on the nuclear program, terrorism, human rights and
Iran's approach to the MEPP. The Conclusions note that "the
EU will continue discussion in light of IAEA DG El-Baradei's
report and the outcome of the IAEA Board of Governors meeting
currently taking place in Vienna." (COMMENT: These brief
Conclusions reflect the Irish Presidency's desire (REF A) to
avoid serious discussion of the Iran issue among leaders at
this juncture. END COMMENT.)
ESDP Planning Cell: Careful Instructions on Next Steps
-------------- --------------

6. (C) The Conclusions include a remarkably detailed one-page
section on "NATO/EU Consultation, Planning and Operations."
The EU leaders ask High Rep Solana to work toward
establishing SHAPE and NATO liaison arrangements by end 2004.
Heads also will agree to "work on establishing an operations
centre" by 1 January 2006 at the latest. In fairly
restrictive terms, the text states "this will not be a
standing HQ" and that national HQs remain the "main option"
for "autonomous military operations." The "objective" should
be for an operations center able to plan and conduct
operations "on the scale of operation Artemis" (NOTE:
Artemis was the ESDP operation in Ituri, Congo, which was
planned by French national HQ and involved about 1500,
predominantly French, troops. END NOTE). The Summit will
also "welcome the understanding that the civ/mil cell and
facilities for an operations centre should be located in the
same building as the main structures of the EUMS, as well as,
to the maximum extent possible, with the pol-mil structures
of DGE." This language represents an explicit effort by
several member states, led by the UK, to limit the size of
the operations center (details septel).

Enlargement: Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Turkey
-------------- --------------


7. (SBU) Responding to a successful lobbying effort by the
Romanians, the EU will not (at least at this point)
"decouple" Bulgaria and Romania in their path to the EU; both
are still described as singing a single Accession Treaty "as
early as possible in 2005" with the aim of joining the EU in
January 2007. In a legally meaningless, but politically
significant, gesture, the Summit will decide that drafting of
the Accession Treaty for both countries will begin in July
2004 (even if the terms for Romania aren't fully set yet).
The Summit will also announce that Croatia will begin
accession negotiations "early in 2005", and the Commission
will be asked to "prepare a pre-accession strategy" including
details of how and when Croatia could get access to the much
larger pots of assistance money available in those budget
lines. The Conclusions do include a useful reference that
"emphasizes that Croatia needs to maintain full cooperation
with ICTY and take all necessary steps to ensure that the
remaining indictee is located and transferred to The Hague"
as well as mention of minority rights, refugee returns,
judicial reform, regional cooperation and anti-corruption.
The Conclusions make no decisions about Turkey, but
reaffirmed that a decision on whether to open negotiations
with Turkey will be made in December. At this stage, the EU
"welcomes the significant progress made to date by Turkey in
the reform process" and "the positive contribution of the
Turkish Government" on Cyprus. The Conclusions do include a
mention of the need to adapt Turkey's Customs Union, (a
document known as "the Ankara Agreement"),to an EU of 25.
(NOTE: This is an issue we are told arose anew in the past
couple of weeks when Ankara said it would extend the
Agreement to all of the new Member States, other than the
Republic of Cyprus.)

Other External Relation Topics, Including US-EU Summit
-------------- --------------


8. (U) The Conclusions also cover a real laundry list of
foreign policy topics, with passing references to HIV/AIDS,
Millennium Development Goals, ESDP in Bosnia, WMD strategy,
human rights, and conflict prevention. In a list of
references to various EU-third country Summits, the EU
"expresses its confidence that the strength, depth and
significance of the EU-US relationship will be demonstrated
in a successful EU-US Summit on 26 June; the relationship is
also being reinforced through enhanced economic partnership
and intensified business dialogue." The EU also confirms
its new European Neighborhood Policy will include Armenia,
Azerbaijan and Georgia.

Justice and Home Affairs
--------------


9. (U) The Conclusions on these topics are largely an
inventory of achievements to date and a repetition of
previously set deadlines. They confirm that High Rep Solana
is asked to create an intelligence capacity on terrorist
threats in the Council Secretariat as soon as possible.
Building on suggestions in the March 25 EU Summit
Declaration, the Conclusions task the Council with drafting,
by December 2004, a "coherent overall approach" to
strengthening EU efforts to combat terrorist financing. They
also task the Council and Commission with developing by the
end of 2004 an overall strategy on the protection of critical
infrastructure, and with evaluating the capabilities of
Member States in preventing and responding to a terrorist
attack.

SCHNABEL