EU RESPONSE ON LIBERTAD TITLE III AND VENEZUELA

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRUSSELS 002930

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/08/2014
TAGS: PREL EAID ETRD CU VE EUN USEU BRUSSELS
SUBJECT: EU RESPONSE ON LIBERTAD TITLE III AND VENEZUELA
REFERENDUM

REF: A. STATE 147536

B. THE HAGUE 1700

C. USEU BRUSSELS 2859

D. STATE 145203

Classified By: PolOff Rick Holtzapple, Reasons 1.4 (B/D)

SUMMARY
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1. (C) The European Commission is still considering whether
or not to send an election observer mission to Venezuela.
The EU also remains concerned about the possible outcome of
the White House decision on suspension of Title III of the
LIBERTAD Act. The EU still plans to raise this issue at the
US-EU Task Force and, possibly, Political Directors' meetings
next week in Brussels. The EU will likely contend that
anything but a blanket suspension covering all EU Member
States will be a reversal of the US-EU 1998 understanding on
this issue. END SUMMARY.


2. (SBU) Following up on Ref C, we delivered Ref A points on
Venezuela to Karl Buck, Head of the Council Secretariat's
Latin America Division, on July 7, and sought a readout of
the July 6 Latin America Working Group (COLAT) discussions of
Cuba. We also discussed Ref A points on Cuba with Council US
desk officer Margarita Comamala on July 8.

VENEZUELA
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3. (SBU) According to Buck, Caracas had agreed "after some
pushing" to an EU exploratory mission (advance referendum
observer team),which the EU "absolutely requires" before
sending a final mission. Buck said that Commissioner Chris
Patten will decide if the final mission will go.

CUBA/LIBERTAD
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4. (C) The COLAT discussed Cuba in some detail. Buck
reported that there had been a "mix of confusion and
astonishment" following what he described as "informal
demarches" from the US in a couple of member-state capitals.
The follow-on points from Washington (Ref D) -- explaining
that there was, in fact, no decision on whether Title III
suspension would be on country-by-country basis instead of
the EU's current blanket waiver -- had clarified the
situation. He said that the EU approach -- shared by all 25
member-states -- is based on the Union's Common Position. He
repeated his caution about undoing the US-EU 1998
understanding (Ref C) and expressed optimism about a positive
Title III decision vis-a-vis the EU.


5. (C) Buck told us that the EU will raise Title III in the
"any other business" part of the July 13 US-EU Political
Directors' meeting (in order to chime in one more time before
the decision on Title III suspension is announced on July
16). Comamala, who is involved in planning the agendas for
both meetings, clarified that, while EU participants might
raise the issue in the July 13 PolDirs, the Secretariat's
view was that this was more of an economic issue, and
therefore the EU preferred to have more substantive
discussion of the issue in the July 14 US-EU Task Force
meeting. Comamala stressed that the EU's position was that
anything other than a blanket suspension covering all of the
EU would be a reversal of the 1998 understanding under which,
she said, the EU had agreed to suspend any WTO case against
the Helms-Burton law.


6. (SBU) COLAT participants also discussed Havana's recent
release of six additional prisoners. Although this was, in
Buck's view, a positive move, he stressed that the EU did not
currently intend to issue a public statement because it
maintained that all political prisoners -- not just six --
had to be released.


7. (SBU) Finally, Buck reported that he had given the COLAT a
brief presentation on the Report of the Commission for
Assistance to a Free Cuba (CAFC),which led to some general
discussion. He asked us for further information on when
President Bush might decide which CAFC proposals to implement.

MCKINLEY