FINLAND: DEMARCHE ON MARKING AND TRACING OF SA/LW

C O N F I D E N T I A L HELSINKI 000094

SIPDIS

STATE FOR PM/WRA AND EUR/NB

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/21/2010
TAGS: PARM FI CDG UN
SUBJECT: FINLAND: DEMARCHE ON MARKING AND TRACING OF SA/LW

REF: A. STATE 9788


B. STATE 10065

Classified By: POL Chief John Hall, for Reasons 1.4(B) and (D)


1. (C) We delivered Ref A demarche to Laura
Kansikas-Debraise, Director of MFA's Unit for Arms Control,
Disarmament, and Nonproliferation, drawing on the talking
points to make the case against a legally binding instrument
that includes ammunition, and stressing that both are red
lines for the United States. On those two most controversial
issues in the current Chairman's draft text, Kasikas-Debraise
indicated that Finland is among those who do not strongly
support the official EU position (Ref A, para 11).
Specifically, she told us the following:

-- Nature of the instrument: Officially, Finland supports a
legally binding document. EU nations will implement the
document's terms whether they are legally or politically
binding, but the Finns believe there are many nations who do
see a difference between the two, and are less likely to
implement if the instrument does not have legally-binding
status. That said, "we do not think it will be catastrophic"
if the document does not have that status, and
Kansikas-Debraise agrees with the U.S. view that not enough
negotiating time remains to achieve a legally binding text.

-- Ammunition: The Finns mark ammunition packages, and in
principle favor including ammunition in the document, but the
GoF will not support doing so if that means the United States
will not join consensus. Kansikas-Debraise agreed that the
main purpose of the instrument is the marking and tracing of
SA/LW, and if achieving that goal is jeopardized by
attempting to include ammunition, the latter should be
dropped. She did comment, however, that she was somewhat
surprised to hear that this is a deal-breaker for the U.S.,
since the Germans had told the Finns privately that they
believe the USG has some flexibility on this question.


2. (C) Kansikas-Debraise has been the MFA action officer for
SA/LW negotiations, but her recent promotion to head of the
arms control unit means she will not be able to travel to New
York for the OEWG meeting. Finland will be represented by
its UN mission, and by a police official from the Ministry of
the Interior. The MFA hopes that an MoD expert will also be
able to join the upcoming session during the second week.
MACK