P-3 COMPROMISE ON DEVELOPMENT CAN RESCUE OUTCOME

C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 006090

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/08/2015
TAGS: PREL PHUM PINR EAIR EAID EFIN FR UNGA
SUBJECT: P-3 COMPROMISE ON DEVELOPMENT CAN RESCUE OUTCOME
DOCUMENT, FRENCH ARGUE

REF: STATE 163224

Classified By: Minister Counselor Josiah B. Rosenblatt, Reasons 1.4b,d


1. (C) Salvaging the Outcome Document (OD) for the High
Level Summit hinges on P-3 compromise, in the view of Quai
d'Orsay action officer Nicolas Kassianides. At a September 7
meeting with poloff to discuss reftel demarche, Kassianides
emphasized that finding mutually acceptable language on
development and the environment was now the French priority.
He noted that Ambassador Levitte had provided draft language
on September 6 to Under Secretary Burns for USG review. USG
resistance to compromise on developmental issues, Kassianides
feared, was generating friction with NAM nations that was
undermining the OD negotiations. Kassianides was sanguine
about other hurdles to the OD, for instance, the
establishment of the Human Rights Council, which he believed
was on track. Once the P-3 reached harmony, the rest would
fall into place, he believed.


2. (C) Kassianides argued that the latest French-proposed
compromise on development accentuates the voluntary nature of
financing projects such as the airline ticket tax. On the
environment, he said France was maintaining its call for a
revamped UN body on the environment in place of the
Nairobi-based UNEP, but that France understood this
initiative would fall short of establishing a new UN agency
and that there would be strict limitations on size and
operations. (Kassianides intimated that France would favor a
different location for the new body and asked why the USG
should care whether UNEP's successor abandoned Nairobi.)


3. (C) An admittedly discouraged Kassianides worried that
the USG might allow the OD to founder and said he
half-expected USUN to substitute a 2-3 page document at the
last minute in lieu of the OD.


4. (C) Comment: Kassianides' fixation on the themes of
development and the environment as the main stumbling blocks
to a successful summit outcome reflects the publicly
announced priorities of the French presidency. His relative
confidence about the ease of resolving other challenges --
for instance, management reform or establishing the Human
Rights Council -- was surprising and he admitted he had not
been following those questions as attentively. Yet his
perspective may also derive from how the French mission in
New York is packaging and conveying information on the
ongoing negotiations, often bypassing senior personnel at the
Quai -- according to Kassianides -- through private
communications with presidential diplomatic advisor Maurice
Gordault-Montagne.
STAPLETON