UNESCO - EC PARTICIPATION IN CULTURAL

UNCLAS PARIS 002231 SIPDIS FROM USMISSION UNESCO PARIS FOR IO/T BOOTH/COWLEY, L/EUR OLSON, L/UNA OSBORN, GENEVA FOR PEAY E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SCUL ETRD UNESCO SUBJECT: UNESCO - EC PARTICIPATION IN CULTURAL DIVERSITY NEGOTIATIONS (CONTINUED) Ref: Paris 01857 ¶1. This is an action request. See para. 5. ¶2. As I reported Reftel, the European Union members of UNESCO continue their push to have the European Commission sit at the table during the next round of cultural diversity (CD) negotiations at UNESCO in June alongside other member states. Just this morning we received notification that the EU members of the Executive Board have tabled a resolution on this topic for the upcoming board meeting that would allow the EC to sit behind its own placard and speak at the same time as member states during the negotiations. These rights would not include a vote. The EU presidency has convened an information meeting for member states at UNESCO on April 7 to discuss their resolution. ¶3. At the same time, the EU is vigorously lobbying Executive Board members. Sylvia Campbell, Jamaica's UNESCO ambassador, told me she met recently with Luxembourg Ambassador (and holder of the EU presidency at UNESCO), Hubert Wurth. When Wurth asked why she opposed the EC's expanded role, Ambassador Campbell explained that she felt it would not be good for the organization but would change her position if she received new instructions from her capital. Last weekend, she told me that the EU has made a demarche in Kingston, and she now has instructions to support the Commission's expanded role. ¶4. Now that the EU members have tabled a resolution, this issue will come to a head during the Executive Board that begins April 19. We are still talking to other delegations, but I sense the EU is picking off Executive Board members one by one and that this time momentum may be heading in their direction. I see three possible scenarios: (1) Even if consensus is moving toward the EU's position, we call for a vote (our instructions at the last Executive Board). (2) We abstain, neither joining consensus nor requesting a vote (thus assuring continued collegiality but not voting for the resolution). (3) We work to craft language that makes absolutely clear that EC participation in the CD negotiations will not set a precedent for future meetings at UNESCO or other UN bodies (not very likely given the number of precedents the EC has cited in making their case to this point). ¶5. Action requested: Please provide guidance on this question as soon as possible. Oliver