BUREAUCRATICS WILL KEEP ITALY FROM SECONDING

UNCLAS ROME 004000

SIPDIS


SENSITIVE

DEPT FOR EUR/RPM

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PHUM UP IT OSCE
SUBJECT: BUREAUCRATICS WILL KEEP ITALY FROM SECONDING
OBSERVERS TO UKRAINE ELECTIONS

REF: STATE 220961


1. (SBU) OSCE Office Director Fabio Cristiani told poloff
that a bureaucratic complication would make it impossible for
Italy to second observers to monitor upcoming elections in
Ukraine. He said that Italian legislation authorizing such
funds came with a string attached - money for transportation,
per diem, etc., could not be paid directly by the MFA to
individual monitors, it had to be paid through another
institution. In the past, ODIHR was handling that task for
Italy (as it was for most other participating States).


2. (SBU) According to Cristiani participating States
received a letter approximately eight months ago from the
OSCE Secretariat indicating ODIHR would no longer take on the
distribution function. For most states, this represented
only a bureaucratic headache, but Cristiani's office is
legally prohibited from distributing the funds. Cristiani
said he has written to the ODIHR directorate asking for an
exception for Italy for this "ten minute process" but has not
received a positive response. Cristiani is attempting to
find a work around, such as distributing the funds through
local NGO or have a new line-item placed in the MFA's budget.
However, he lamented, neither solution would be in place in
time for either round of the Ukraine elections.


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2004ROME04000 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED