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