Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
04BRUSSELS2838
2004-07-01 13:52:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Brussels
Cable title:  

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT PRESIDENT'S CALL ON AMBASSADOR

Tags:  PREL PGOV PINR EUN USEU BRUSSELS 
pdf how-to read a cable
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 002838 

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/ERA, STATE PLEASE PASS DOJ FOR BURROWS AND
SWARTZ, PLEASE PASS DHS FOR A/S VERDERY AND U/S HUTCHINSON

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/01/2014
TAGS: PREL PGOV PINR EUN USEU BRUSSELS
SUBJECT: EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT PRESIDENT'S CALL ON AMBASSADOR
SCHNABEL

REF: A. A) LISBON 1047


B. B) BRUSSELS 2794

C. C) USEU TODAY 06/28/04

D. D) BRUSSELS 2518

E. E) BRUSSELS 2360

Classified By: USEU POLOFF TODD HUIZINGA, FOR REASON 1.4 (B) AND (D)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 002838

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/ERA, STATE PLEASE PASS DOJ FOR BURROWS AND
SWARTZ, PLEASE PASS DHS FOR A/S VERDERY AND U/S HUTCHINSON

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/01/2014
TAGS: PREL PGOV PINR EUN USEU BRUSSELS
SUBJECT: EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT PRESIDENT'S CALL ON AMBASSADOR
SCHNABEL

REF: A. A) LISBON 1047


B. B) BRUSSELS 2794

C. C) USEU TODAY 06/28/04

D. D) BRUSSELS 2518

E. E) BRUSSELS 2360

Classified By: USEU POLOFF TODD HUIZINGA, FOR REASON 1.4 (B) AND (D)


1. (C) SUMMARY: In a June 30 call on Ambassador Schnabel,
outgoing European Parliament (EP) President Pat Cox defended
his decision to ask the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to
annul the U.S.-EU agreement on PNR data sharing, and denied
that his press statement on that decision, released in
Ireland on the eve of the Dublin U.S.-EU Summit, was unduly
critical of the U.S. Cox also discussed Portuguese Prime
Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso's "good, but not certain"
chances of receiving EP approval of his appointment as
European Commission President (ref C). Cox said Barroso
would spend much of July drumming up EP support,
concentrating on the Socialist Group (PES) and the Liberal
Democrats (ELDR),both of whom were likely to play "hard to
get." The EP vote on Barroso's nomination -- which we expect
Barroso will win -- is scheduled for July 22. END SUMMARY.

--------------
PNR: COX DEFENDS HIS DECISION
--------------


2. (SBU) Ambassador Schnabel told Cox his announcement that
he would initiate an ECJ challenge to the U.S.-EU PNR deal
hours before the President,s arrival in Ireland, as well as
his calling U.S. Homeland Security efforts
&extraterritorial8 was poorly received in Washington. On
the timing Cox said that given the vote of the EP Legal
Affairs Committee the previous week, he, as EP President
could either decide to announce the Parliament,s demands
when he did or wait to bring the matter again before the next
EP plenary session the week of July 20-23 (which will be the
newly elected EP's first plenary session). He had spoken
with party leaders, none of whom had changed their decision,
and decided it would be better to announce the action when he
did rather than open a new plenary debate at the next session

involving many new members who would be very unfamiliar with
the issue, as well as a crush of new business including the
selection of new committees and the votes on the new
Commission and Parliament Presidents.


3. (SBU) Cox defended his use of the term
&extraterritorial8 as an accurate description of U.S.
legislation that was also completely justified, and he added
that European data protection legislation was just as
extraterritorial. Completing the defense he called for
improved legislator-to-legislator dialogue to provide early
warning on issues such as this, perhaps through the
Transatlantic Legislators Dialogue.


4. (SBU) On the case itself, Cox contradicted reports USEU
has received from Commission, Parliament, and Council lawyers
by noting that the Parliament,s best chance for success
comes from its action against the Council for concluding the
International Agreement with the U.S. as part of the PNR
deal.

--------------
BARROSO STILL FACES EP HURDLE
--------------


5. (SBU) Cox then moved on to an analysis of Jose Manuel
Durao Barroso's chances of receiving EP confirmation as
Commission President. The requisite EP approval of his
appointment, by a simple majority vote, is scheduled for July

22. Barroso, from the center-right, will likely receive
nearly unanimous approval of the largest party group, the
center-right European People's Party (EPP-ED),which will
have approximately 279 members, or 38 percent of the 732 EP
seats. (NOTE: Negotiations on party group membership are
ongoing -- each party group's number of seats could change as
a result; negotiations will probably continue until sometime
in mid-July. END NOTE.) However, leaders of the EP
Socialist Group (PES),the second largest party group in the
EP with an estimated 199 seats (27 percent),have publicly
criticized Barroso's nomination. They have said the PES
would vote on the basis of Barroso's qualifications for the
job, and that Barroso does not appear to meet those
qualifications. Members of the third largest party group,
the Liberal-Democrats (ELDR),which will form the core of a
new "centrist" group called "Alliance of Liberals and
Democrats for Europe" of approximately 80 seats (11 percent)
after party realignment negotiations are finished (refs D-E),
have also expressed misgivings about Barroso.


6. (C) Cox said that both the PES and the ELDR would play
"hard to get" for a while, but that most of the members of
these groups would likely end up voting for Barroso. Cox
said Barroso would meet with EP party groups and their
leaders in Brussels during the week beginning July 12. On
July 15, Barroso, Cox and EP leaders will be in The Hague to
kick off the Dutch EU presidency. There, Cox said, he might
arrange further meetings between Barroso and EP leaders. Cox
said he expected Barroso to gain significant support within
the PES and the ELDR as a result of both the Brussels and the
Hague meetings. Cox said he expected the PES ultimately to
support Barroso for two reasons: (1) there will be pressure
to do so from center-left heads of government, such as German
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who support Barroso; and (2)
the PES will likely cut a deal with the EPP-ED on the EP
presidency, with a PES member becoming EP President for the
first half of the coming five-year term; this deal will make
it difficult for the PES to turn around and refuse to support
Barroso, the EPP-ED candidate for Commission President. The
ELDR, said Cox (who is himself an ELDR member),may prove a
tougher nut to crack. Cox said the fourth and fifth largest
groups in the EP, the Greens and the far-left EUL/NGL (with
an estimated total of 79 seats -- 10.8 percent) are likely to
vote against Barroso.

--------------
BARROSO'S FRANCO-GERMAN CHALLENGE
--------------


7. (C) Cox also commented on Germany's and France's attempts
to claim specific Commission portfolios. Cox lauded
Barroso's response that the assignment of Commission
portfolios would be his (Barroso's) decision, despite the
German push to appoint Guenter Verheugen (current Enlargement
Commissioner) as "super Commissioner" for economic reform,
and France's desire to give Jacques Barrot (current
Commissioner for Regional Policy) the Competition portfolio.
Cox said that, with the Franco-German push publicly known,
Barroso now already faced a crucial first challenge to his
authority: he would be seen as being "in the Franco-German
pocket" if he acquiesced.

--------------
COX ON VERHOFSTADT, PATTEN AND EU "JIHADISTS"
--------------


8. (C) Cox said the aspirations of Belgian Prime Minister Guy
Verhofstadt and outgoing External Relations Commissioner
Chris Patten for the Commission presidency had been doomed
from the start by the "jihadist" way the EU goes about
choosing a Commission President. He said Verhofstadt's
misfortune was being known as the Chirac-Schroeder candidate
-- the UK would not accept that; Patten, as the UK
alternative to Verhofstadt, met with the inevitable rejection
of France and Germany. Thus, said Cox, "they both had to be
taken out back and shot." Cox said he had talked to both men
during their "candidacies." Verhofstadt, said Cox, fully
expected to get the nod. Verhofstadt was "devastated" when
his candidacy was rejected. Patten, on the other hand, was a
"very relaxed" candidate who allowed others to throw his hat
into the ring but never expected, nor necessarily wanted, to
get the job.


9. (C) COMMENT: On PNR, Cox was probably correct when he told
the Ambassador he had limited ability to affect the decision
to take our PNR deal to the ECJ, but his criticism of U.S.
Homeland Security policy as &extraterritorial,8 as well as
his choice of the place and timing of the announcement were
clearly under his personal control. On Barroso, we share
Cox's analysis. We believe that Barroso will be approved by
the Parliament, and that his handling of the Franco-German
push for key Commission portfolios will be an initial acid
test of his Commission presidency. END COMMENT.

SCHNABEL