Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05BRUSSELS1527
2005-04-18 12:46:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Brussels
Cable title:  

EC WILL SPEND 8.5M EUROS ON AFGHAN ELECTIONS

Tags:  PREL EAID AF UNSC USEU BRUSSELS 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS BRUSSELS 001527 

SIPDIS

USAID FOR ANE/SA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL EAID AF UNSC USEU BRUSSELS
SUBJECT: EC WILL SPEND 8.5M EUROS ON AFGHAN ELECTIONS

REF: STATE 61560

UNCLAS BRUSSELS 001527

SIPDIS

USAID FOR ANE/SA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL EAID AF UNSC USEU BRUSSELS
SUBJECT: EC WILL SPEND 8.5M EUROS ON AFGHAN ELECTIONS

REF: STATE 61560


1. (U) On April 18, PolOff delivered Reftel demarche on
funding for Afghanistan's parliamentary elections to Jonathan
Hatwell, European Commission (EC) desk officer for
Afghanistan. Hatwell reiterated that the EC "fully shares
the U.S. view on the importance of the parliamentary
elections," and confirmed the EC is planning to spend 8.5
million Euros - approximately $11 million - on the elections,
as previously committed. (NOTE: This number is slightly
less than the amount stated in Reftel. END NOTE.). He said
he thinks it unlikely this number will increase, since the EC
is already making significant contributions to democracy
building in other areas.


2. (U) Specifically, he mentioned the EC's plan to send some
sort of election monitoring mission to Afghanistan for the
elections, a commitment of both resources and personnel.
This monitoring mission would either take the form of the
EU's standard "Election Observation Mission" (EOM) package,
usually headed by a Member of the European Parliament, or it
could be a smaller and more low-key "Democracy and Election
Support Mission" (DESM),along the lines of the team the EU
sent to monitor Afghanistan's presidential elections. The EC
is expected to decide in the next week or two which package
it will send.


3. (U) Hatwell also mentioned the EC's commitment to
post-election democracy-building efforts. Such commitments
include a contribution to a UNDP/French project to train
parliamentarians, and a recently-announced 30-million-Euro
contribution to the UNDP'S Law & Order Trust Fund for
Afghanistan (LOTFA). These contributions all come from the
same pot of money, Hatwell said, and allocating more money
for elections would mean shortchanging other areas such as
infrastructure and health. Hatwell had no specific details
on member state contributions for the elections.

SCHNABEL
.