ITALIAN VIEWS ON MAY 23 GAERC AGENDA

C O N F I D E N T I A L ROME 001734

SIPDIS


E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/20/2015
TAGS: CH PREL MARR MOPS IT EUN
SUBJECT: ITALIAN VIEWS ON MAY 23 GAERC AGENDA

REF: STATE 90085

Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Tom Countryman. Reason: 1.
4 (b)(d)

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ESDP
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1. (C) MFA Director for EU CFSP told Poloff that the GAERC
would begin with a Monday morning EU defense ministers
meeting to discuss an ESDP progress report. He described the
draft he had seen as "non-controversial," with a dozen or so
chapters devoted to assessments of rapid response
capabilities, battlegroup creation, and SOFAs for EU force
deployment. Italy was participating actively in the portion
devoted to evaluation of operation Althea (Bosnia),
particularly language to incorporate carabinieri/gendarmes
into a unified military chain of command. Mattiolo said
that neither Defense Ministers nor Foreign Ministers had
discussion of Berlin-plus or NATO interoperability on their
agendas.

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Balkans
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2. (C) Ministers will discuss utilizing the Stabilization and
Association Agreement as a means to encourage reform and
progress Bosnia. Mattiolo confirmed that the conclusions
would include conditional language underlining that Bosnia's
further integration with transatlantic institutions is
dependent on enhanced ICTY cooperation.

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Sudan
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3. (C) Although not an EU mission, MOD Martino will confirm
that Italy is prepared to deploy 220 troops to the UN flagged
"Operation Nile" in Sudan. The GAERC conclusions will call
for enhanced EU/NATO/AU coordination and will identify
specific areas for "burden sharing." Ministers will note the
importance of the EU being more "forward leaning" regarding
financial assistance to the AU; specifically, conclusions
will call for finalizing the nature and amounts of
contributions by the end of May.

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China Arms Embargo
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4. (C) According to Mattiolo neither Defense nor Foreign
Ministers have the embargo on their agendas. Referring to
our points (reftel) Mattiolo cautioned against giving too
much weight to Luxembourg Foreign Minister Asselborn's
statement that a lift of the embargo is still possible before
the end of the Luxembourg presidency. Mattiolo claimed that
momentum among member states was moving away from, rather
than towards, lifting any time soon.

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2005ROME01734 - Classification: CONFIDENTIAL