SPANISH REACTION TO DEMARCHE ON MARCH 22-23 EU FMS

C O N F I D E N T I A L MADRID 000959

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/17/2014
TAGS: PREL PGOV SP EUN
SUBJECT: SPANISH REACTION TO DEMARCHE ON MARCH 22-23 EU FMS
AND MARCH 25-26 EC MEETINGS

REF: STATE 57444

Classified By: Classified by Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Political Counselor,
for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary. Spain will be putting terrorism at the top
of its agenda for the March 22-23 EU FMS meetings and the
March 25-26 European Council meetings. Jointly with the
Dutch, Spain will be backing the creation of a EU Coordinator
for anti-terrorism efforts. The MFA's EU Office also expects
the investiture of the new Socialist government to proceed
quickly and to have Miguel Angel Moratinos installed as the
new Foreign Minister by as early as April 15. End summary.

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Terrorism and Terrorist Financing
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2. (C) We delivered reftel demarche on March 18 to Enrique
Mora, Director of the MFA's Office of EU Foreign Policy and
Common Security. On terrorist financing, Mora stated that
Spain shares the USG's concern about the amount of time it
takes to designate terrorists through the EU Clearinghouse
(Spain has been working actively with the Dutch and some
other EU states to reform the process). He said that Spain
sees the need for a single EU Coordinator for anti-terrorism
efforts, which he likened to Secretary Ridge's position in
the Department of Homeland Security. He said that Spain and
the Netherlands would jointly introduce a measure creating
this position, but that he expected that United Kingdom
representatives may disagree, as the British have been
reluctant to streamline the process of designating terrorists.


3. (C) Mora also stated that there would be a discussion on
whether the EU should implement its Solidarity Clause in
response to the Madrid bombings and ban trade with any
government that is judged to not be combating terrorism. He
said that such a ban could affect several North African
countries, especially in light of the events in Madrid.

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Iran, Serbia and the Middle East
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4. (C) Regarding Iran, Mora stated that the EU ministers
would be calling for Iran to put its recent promises in
writing. He said Spain still believes in dialog with Iran,
but that the most recent statements by the Iranian government
on allowing inspections must be put into signed agreements.


5. (C) On Serbian and Croatian cooperation with the ICTY,
Mora said that Spain agrees that there must be a strong line
urging cooperation with the tribunals. However, he did not
foresee any changes in the CARDS budget linked to cooperation.


6. (C) Mora did not see any conclusions being agreed to at
this meeting with regard to possible Israeli plans for
unilateral disengagement. He noted the USG's position that
the peace process should be pursued parallel to the Greater
Middle East Initiative, and that progress on one should not
be linked to progress on the other. However, he mentioned
that he thought it would be hard for the Arab states to not
see movement on the Greater Middle East Initiative as
contingent on progress on Israeli/Palestinian issues.

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New Foreign Minister
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7. (C) As is commonly believed, Mora said he expected the new
Socialist government to name Miguel Angel Moratinos Cuyaube
as its Foreign Minister. He noted that Moratinos is a
"Middle East expert", having served as the EU's Special
Representative for the Middle East Peace Process from the end
of 1996 to mid-2003, and as Spain's Ambassador to Israel for
six months prior to the EU appointment. Mora thought that
the new government could be invested and working by as early
as April 14.
ARGYROS