NETHERLANDS/IAEA: THIRD TERM FOR ELBARADEI REMAINS

C O N F I D E N T I A L THE HAGUE 003338

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/22/2014
TAGS: AORC PARM NL IAEA
SUBJECT: NETHERLANDS/IAEA: THIRD TERM FOR ELBARADEI REMAINS
OPEN ISSUE FOR THE DUTCH

REF: SECSTATE 270920

Classified By: Andrew Schofer, Political Counselor, for reasons 1.4 (b)
and (d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: Dutch contacts say the EU will likely not
coordinate on the issue of supporting another term for
ElBaradei, letting individual EU member states on the BOG
develop their own positions. The Dutch have not yet staked
out a position on the issue, and claim to have little
information on the preferences of other EU BOG members. End
Summary.


2. (C) PolMiloff met Karel van Kesteren and Giovanni van der
Lugt (MFA UN Office) and Bas ter Haar (MFA, Security Policy)
on December 22 to share reftel points; Poloff followed up
with van Kesteren on December 23. Van Kesteren indicated
that each EU member on the IAEA BOG would be "free to follow
its own line" as "this is not a matter of EU coordination."
That said, van Kesteren acknowledged that the EU has a policy
to "support heads of specialized agencies of the UN for two
periods only, or alternatively for a period not exceeding 12
years." He added that "there were differences on the
interpretation of this agreement," but the EU in such a case
would usually follow the "not more than 12 years rule." In
this case, however, some in the EU had argued that this
general EU policy should not apply to the IAEA since,
technically speaking, it is not a specialized agency of the
UN. Furthermore, the EU has made exceptions to the rule
previously (e.g., with regard to the ILO) and that in other
instances individual countries have from time to time made
exceptions on political grounds (e.g. FODAG, where France has
supported French-speaking candidates.)


3. (C) Van Kesteren said he had "almost no information on
the positions of individual EU countries" and indicated that
the Dutch had not yet staked out a national position. As a
matter of principal, Van Kesteren stressed that he would want
to uphold the rules lest they become meaningless, but he also
believed that ElBaradei might be able to achieve more than a
Western candidate. He said that the MFA would discuss the
issue internally and then get back to the USG. Van Kesteren
concluded that "support by EU countries for a third term is
not excluded per se, which does not imply that EU countries
will necessarily support him." For his part, ter Haar had a
"certain inclination" to look favorably on a third term for
ElBaradei, making clear that this is still an open issue for
the Dutch.
SOBEL