ANNALISA GIANNELLA, LEADING THE EU AGAINST WMD

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 003843

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NOFORN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/10/2014
TAGS: PARM PINR IT FR EUN USEU BRUSSELS
SUBJECT: ANNALISA GIANNELLA, LEADING THE EU AGAINST WMD

REF: USEU BRUSSELS 3497

Classified By: Political Officer Maren Smith for reasons 1.4(b/d).


1. (C) Summary: Annalisa Giannella, EU High Representative
Solana's Personal Representative for WMD Non-Proliferation,
is the key official shaping the EU approach to
nonproliferation and disarmament. Her results-oriented
approach, record of close cooperation with the US, and
European contacts make her a valuable partner in our efforts
to counter WMD. End Summary.


2. (SBU) Javier Solana, the EU High Representative for Common
Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP),on October 10, 2003 named
Annalisa Giannella his personal representative on WMD issues.
The decision to make Giannella Solana's personal
representative--a position in which she is directly
accountable only to him--was intended to facilitate her
appointment and to ensure that Solana, rather than the
member-states, remained in overall control of developing the
EU's approach to WMD. However, she has generally good
relations with the Member States and is a trusted caretaker
of their collective nonproliferation interests. Giannella's
appointment came too late to give her a significant role in
developing the EU's WMD Strategy, approved by the European
Council in December 2003. She did contribute to updating and
merging the two documents that formed the Strategy's base,
the Action Plan and the Declaration of Principles, both of
which had been drafted by the early-2003 Greek EU Presidency
(with significant contributions from Robert Cooper, Solana's
primary strategic thinker; reftel profiles Cooper). Since
December 2003, Giannella has worked tirelessly to implement
the Strategy, which she views as her mandate and roadmap.

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An EU Veteran
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3. (U) Giannella was born in Bari, Italy in 1949 and joined
the Council Secretariat in October 1972. In addition to
Italian, she speaks fluent English and French. Until 1994,
she worked on economic affairs, including environmental
protection policy and completion of the internal market, with
a focus on financial services and company law. She also
participated in a variety of international negotiations,
overseeing the Council Secretariat's participation in an
EEC-Switzerland agreement on insurance, the Lugano Convention
with EFTA countries, and the International Bankruptcy
Convention. Giannella moved to the foreign policy and
defense sphere in April 1994, when she was appointed Head of
Division for Security Issues.

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History of Precedent-Setting
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4. (SBU) Promoted in September 1999 to Director of the
Council Secretariat's European Security and Defense Policy
Directorate, she was charged with building a unit that had
not previously existed. At the start of the Convention on
the Future of Europe (which drafted the EU's Constitutional
Treaty),Giannella was seconded to the Convention
Secretariat, where she was Secretary-General Sir John Kerr's

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deputy. In addition, as the senior Convention staffer on
defense issues, she worked closely with the chairman of the
Defense Working Group, Michel Barnier (a Commissioner later
plucked from Brussels to become the French foreign minister),
in drafting what became the Constitutional Treaty's
provisions on ESDP. At the close of the Convention, Solana
approached her directly to offer her the WMD post.

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A Forthright and Effective Partner
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5. (C) We have been extremely impressed by the energy and
zeal with which Giannella has attacked her work, taking
charge quickly and getting results fast. For example,
earlier this year she proposed that the EU cosponsor with the
IAEA a series of conferences on fissile material in the
Caucasus region. She presented her proposal to the Political
and Security Committee (PSC),which sent it to Council for
ministerial-level approval. Two weeks later, Giannella
received 3 million euros to support the three conferences--a
result unprecedented in our experience working with the EU in
terms of speed and ability to work outside standard
decision-making lines, and a tactical success that we expect
her to seek to replicate strategically. (Note: The 3 million
euros was disbursed from member state-controlled and very
hard to tap CFSP funds, not Commission funds, which reflected
Giannella's desire to both think creatively about funding
options and to get member states more directly involved in EU
nonproliferation assistance.) On the down side, however, we
have seen her apply the same energy to bad ideas as she does
to good ones, as when she tried to push ASEAN in a
politically impossible direction; fortunately, her ideas thus
far have most often been good.


6. (C) Giannella has also impressed us with her skill in
assembling a strong team to support her. Prior to her
appointment, there were two people in the Council working on
WMD, proliferation, and disarmament issues. In less than a
year, she has expanded her office to eight officers, taking
advantage of the discretion granted by Solana to select her
own team without having to factor in member-state
requirements or political choices. The quality of her staff
members--several of whom, including her deputy, Andreas
Strub, are long-time USEU contacts--reflects Giannella's
personal recruiting clout as well as her success in making
her office an appealing and prestigious place despite long
hours and hard work.


7. (C) Giannella's growing staff reflects her success in
extending Council competence into new areas. Her goal,
however, is not to advance Council interests or build her own
empire--she is results-oriented, and applies a uniquely
non-bureaucratic vision to a position that she has had to
develop from scratch. Her focus on getting things done has
led her to circumvent established procedures and
institutional niceties; as a result, she is not liked by many
in the Commission, who see her as intruding on their turf.

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Working with the U.S.
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8. (C/NF) Giannella has demonstrated a strong interest in
collaborating with the U.S., which she accepts as the EU's
key partner on proliferation-related issues. She and her
staff are consistently approachable and eager to remain in
close contact. Although friendly, Giannella is focused on
business twenty four hours a day--on one occasion, when laid
up due to back surgery, she held a meeting with a visiting
PDAS at her home. In her interactions with us, Giannella has
been very forthcoming and willing to share information
without hesitation or restraint--including EU documents that
would be highly classified in any other system. She told us,
for example, about the non-proliferation provisions in the
draft EU Association Agreement with Syria before the
Commission and Syrians themselves were informed. Although
she has significant influence, her tendency to get out in
front of the rest of the bureaucracy can also come back to
bite her, however. In negotiations of the non-proliferation
text for this year's U.S.-EU summit, she was forced to walk
back ad referendum agreements on several issues after a PSC
meeting, in which member states refused to go along with some
of the agreed language.

SCHNABEL