SALAFRANCA PUSHES HIS CANDIDACY FOR UNDP

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 001484

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR IO/EDA, EUR/ERA; PASS USAID FOR PPC/DCO

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/14/2015
TAGS: PREL PINR EAID SP UNDP EUN USEU BRUSSELS
SUBJECT: SALAFRANCA PUSHES HIS CANDIDACY FOR UNDP

REF: A. A) BRUSSELS 1389

B. B) MADRID 1104

C. C) ZUNIGA/BEHREND/SAINZ E-MAILS MARCH 2005

D. D) LERNER/BEHREND/HUIZINGA E-MAILS MARCH 2005

E. E) 04 BRUSSELS 4080 AND PREVIOUS

Classified By: USEU POLOFF TODD HUIZINGA, FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D)


1. (C) SUMMARY: Following up on previous approaches to
USEU, Embassy Madrid and USINT Havana (REFS B-D),Spanish
member of the European Parliament (MEP) Jose Ignacio
Salafranca solicited support from USEU again on April 7 for
his candidacy for UNDP Administrator. Salafranca is well
known to USEU as an influential MEP who has worked closely
and constructively with us on many issues. We understand he
does not appear on the UNSYG's short list, and has little
chance for the job. Salafranca is an expert on Latin
America, but to our knowledge he has no direct experience
managing development issues. We told Salafranca the U.S. has
not taken a position yet on any of the candidates. END
SUMMARY.

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SPAIN'S CANDIDATE, BUT FROM OPPOSITION
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2. (C) Salafranca pressed his candidacy with us again on
April 7, stressing that, although he was the Spanish
government's candidate, he was not a member of the governing
Socialist Labor Party. Rather, he is a member of former
President Aznar's Partido Popular. He said he had asked
Aznar to approach the USG on his behalf, and that the Aznar
government's former Foreign Minister Ana de Palacio had
spoken recently to Secretary Rice urging U.S. support for his
candidacy. He said the current Spanish government, though
having named him as the GOS's candidate, was not
enthusiastically lobbying for him because he belongs to the
opposition. This had given him a disadvantage compared to
other candidates, despite the broad support he enjoyed. His
greatest support came from Latin American governments, he
claimed, but several countries in Africa and many EU member
states in which center-right governments were in power also
supported him. He asserted that leaders in the European
Commission had also indicated their support, but could not
take an official position because two other EU member states,
the UK and the Netherlands, also had fielded candidates.

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CLAIMS SUPPORT STRONG DESPITE SHORT LIST
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3. (C) Salafranca handed us a copy of the UNSYG's short list
of candidates, dated March 22. His name was not among the
six names on the list. He said leaders of the European
People's Party (EPP),the umbrella organization within the EU
of member-state center-right parties, had urged UNSYG Annan
to include Salafranca on the short list. Salafranca added
that the Ambassadors to the UN of Chile, Argentina, Dominican
Republic, Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala,
Uruguay, Mexico, Poland, Ukraine, Armenia, Lithuania, and
Tunisia had approached Annan's office as well, supporting his
candidacy despite his absence from the short list.
Salafranca said several contacts in New York had told him
that Mark Malloch Brown, who left the post of UNDP
Administrator to become UNSYG Annan's Chief of Staff, was not
consistently forwarding information on Salafranca's candidacy
to Annan. He asserted that the reason for this was
Brown's support of the candidacy of fellow Briton, Baroness
Valerie Amos.

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SALAFRANCA HAS WORKED WELL WITH USEU
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4. (C) Salafranca is the leader of the center-right in the
European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee. He has worked
closely with USEU on a range of issues over the past two
years. A Latin America expert, Salafranca has echoed and
sometimes explicitly supported U.S. policy on Venezuela,
Colombia and above all, Cuba (REF E). Currently, he is
working to drum up EU-wide support among center-right
parliamentarians for the Cuban opposition; he is also a vocal
critic of the January 31 EU decision to suspend the EU
restrictive measures against Cuba (REF A). In 2003-04,
Salafranca seconded Spanish President Aznar's support for
U.S. Iraq policy, and in September he authored a European
Parliament resolution on Iraq urging EU support for Iraq
reconstruction. Significantly for the European Parliament,
the resolution included no criticism of the U.S. role in
Iraq.


5. (C) Salafranca's qualifications on development issues are
less evident, related primarily to his expertise on Latin
America. He is well traveled, well versed and widely known
in the region, and has chaired the European Parliament
Subcommittee on Central America, Mexico and Cuba. He was the
European Parliament representative at the EU-Latin America
Summits in 2002 (Madrid) and 2004 (Guadalajara),and chaired
European Parliament election observation missions in Peru
(2000) and Colombia (2002). Salafranca does not appear to
have extensive administrative experience, nor any direct
experience in managing development programs.

MCKINLEY
.