SPAIN ON THE NOVEMBER 21 GAERC

C O N F I D E N T I A L MADRID 004025 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/17/2015 TAGS: KPAL ETRD PREL SP SUBJECT: SPAIN ON THE NOVEMBER 21 GAERC REF: SECSTATE 208899 Classified By: Political Counselor Kathleen Fitzpatrick for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Poloff delivered Reftel talking points to Carlos Fernandez-Arias, MFA EU Policy Coordinator. Fernandez-Arias said that Kosovo, Syria and Ukraine were not on the agenda.Defense issue points were passed to contacts who deal with defense issues, and when post has a response, we will pass it to the Dept. We are also seeking more information about Spain's intentions in terms of bilats with Syria at the Barcelona Process anniversary. Any information received will be communicated septel. ¶2. (C) On Iraq, Fernandez-Arias expects that the EU will discuss ways to support the political process and reconstruction. Spain maintains its Iraq Donor Conference commitment and will support the electoral observer mission in December. Spain also feels it is important to involve the Arab League in the process, to keep neighboring countries interested and involved. ¶3. (C) Spain feels that the EU operation at the Rafa border crossing is of great political importance for the region, and is thus contributing specialized personnel. They also will support the Palestinian Electoral Council elections in January, and are hopeful they can happen peacefully. Spain is concerned about Israeli activity in East Jerusalem and will bring this up at the GAERC. ¶4. (C) Fernandez-Arias said that Spain is in complete agreement with USG views on Bosnia and is hopeful that the SAA process can help bring about stability in the country. ¶5. (U) Fernandez-Arias noted that Iran will also likely be a topic of discussion, and that the EU-3 and High Rep Javier Solana will update the Ministers on recent events. AGUIRRE