FRANCE WELCOMES IRAQI ELECTIONS, BUT SUGGESTS IRAQ

C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 008512 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/14/2015 TAGS: PREL IZ FR SUBJECT: FRANCE WELCOMES IRAQI ELECTIONS, BUT SUGGESTS IRAQ HAS NOT ACHIEVED FULL SOVEREIGNTY REF: A. STATE 225860 ¶B. PARIS 8561 Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Josiah Rosenblatt, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) The following is an informal translation of the French MFA spokesman's December 16 statement on Iraq's elections: Begin text. France welcomes the important mobilization of all the components of Iraqi society during the December 15 election for the National Assembly and marks its satisfaction with the conditions under which voting took place. This vote constitutes a major milestone in the transition process engaged in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1546 and a supplementary stage in the progressive restoration of Iraqi sovereignty. End text. ¶2. (C) MFA Iraq desk officer David Cvach told us the spokesman's statement was shorter than expected, in order to give FM Douste-Blazy and other French officials the chance to pronounce in greater detail on the December 15 vote. Cvach stressed that the MFA statement was intended to be positive and stress French satisfaction with the high participation rate in the elections, while making clear that Iraq's political process is not over. Important future steps, in the GoF view, include consideration of amendments to the constitution and continued Arab League-initiated efforts at national reconciliation. Pressed to explain whether the GoF statement was intended to question Iraq's sovereignty, Cvach stressed that the GoF recognizes Iraqi sovereignty and for that reason re-established diplomatic relations with Iraq in July 2004. At the same time, he explained, it is an established GoF position that Iraq will not achieve "full sovereignty" until it is in full control of its security, and foreign troops have withdrawn. ¶3. (C) Comment: The MFA statement is typical of GoF responses to other milestones in Iraq's democratic transition: positive but not effusive, and somehow incapable of offering unreserved support for the first constitutional democracy taking root in the Arab world. End comment. Please visit Paris' Classified Website at: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm Stapleton