BADEN-WUERTTEMBERG REJECTS SCIENTOLOGIST REQUEST

C O N F I D E N T I A L FRANKFURT 005072

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/AGS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/14/2014
TAGS: GM PGOV PHUM PREL SOCI
SUBJECT: BADEN-WUERTTEMBERG REJECTS SCIENTOLOGIST REQUEST
FOR DIALOGUE

REF: A) FRANKFURT 3507 `B) STATE 4493

Classified By: Consul General Peter W. Bodde, reasons 1.5(b) and (d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: In a June 4 letter to Church of Scientology
(CoS) President Helmuth Bloebaum, Baden-Wuerttemberg (B-W)
State Secretary Rudolf Boehmler refused CoS Germany's request
for dialogue with B-W state authorities (reftels),listing
"widespread parliamentary opposition" as a primary concern.
Scientology officials cite alleged pressure from the national
Office for the Protection of the Constitution as a reason for
B-W's refusal to engage. The CoS will continue to pressure
B-W authorities for informal contacts as a precursor to
substantive dialogue but realize that a breakthrough is
unlikely. We will stay engaged on the margins and reiterate
our support for dialogue (formal or informal) between the
parties. End Summary.


2. (SBU) CoS Germany contacted the Baden-Wuerttemberg State
Chancellery on March 2, requesting an informal dialogue with
a "neutral committee" of ad hoc officials from the B-W state
government. Poloff voiced USG support for Scientology's
request during a March 11 meeting with Hans-Werner Carlhoff,
the head of Baden-Wuerttemberg's Interministerial Working
Group on Sects (reftels). At that meeting and in subsequent
contacts, Carlhoff underlined the importance of USG support
for the Scientologist initiative, and promised to follow up.


3. (SBU) Boehmler's letter to Scientology President Bloebaum
did not mention USG involvement, merely noting unanimous B-W
parliamentary opposition to the CoS as an organization and
the government's continued belief that CoS matters are most
appropriately handled by the Interministerial Working Group
on Sects. The letter cited two different recent instances
(December 10, 2003 and April 24, 2004) where B-W Parliament
members had spoken out against Scientology and its activities
in Baden-Wuerttemberg. In our subsequent engagement with CoS
officials, they expressed disappointment with the decision
and asserted that they would continue to lobby for dialogue
and an end to "state-sponsored discrimination" against the
CoS in Baden-Wuerttemberg.


4. (C) COMMENT: CoS Germany's Human Rights Office Director
Ingo Lehmann told us that he had learned that the national
Office for the Protection of the Constitution had pressured
Baden-Wuerttemberg and other states to refuse CoS requests
for dialogue because they would interfere with pending CoS
litigation against the OPC. Scientologists have long been
active in trying to get the OPC to stop surveillance of CoS
activities, and we believe that any step towards
"normalization" of relations could damage the OPC's case for
regarding Scientology as an anti-constitutional movement and
maintaining surveillance of CoS groups. Given B-W's
consistent hostility towards Scientology, however, it is
unlikely that national-level pressure from the OPC, even if
true, is solely responsible for the state's continued
intransigence. END COMMENT.
BODDE