MOD'S MEIMARAKIS: INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY

S E C R E T ATHENS 003232 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/21/2016 TAGS: PGOV PREL MARR MOPS GR SUBJECT: MOD'S MEIMARAKIS: INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY REF: A. ATHENS 2975 ¶B. ATHENS 2868 ¶C. ATHENS 2687 Classified By: DCM Thomas Countryman. REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Despite the importance of his position, Greek Minister of Defense Vangelis Meimarakis remains largely an unknown quantity for the international community. Greeks, however, nearly universally regard him as a fish out of water. A New Democracy party politician and electoral strategist with little apparent understanding of military issues, Meimarakis reportedly was sent by PM Karamanlis last February to the MOD to overcome traditional MOD/MFA rivalries. Overshadowed on military issues by Greek CHOD Chinofotis -- the closest thing modern Greece has seen to a soldier/diplomat )- Meimarakis spent much of the fall orchestrating ND,s victory in October local elections. But his surprise December 12 lightning visit to Greek troops in Afghanistan may indicate a new awareness of the political potential of the MOD portfolio. Unfortunately for Meimarakis, wanna-be replacements have already begun circling in anticipation of early Parliamentary elections in late spring or fall 2007. END SUMMARY. INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY... -------------- ¶2. (C) Minister of Defense Vangelis Meimarakis (age 53) occupies one of the most important positions in the Greek government. Yet with a seat at the NATO table, command of military assets in a strategic region, and control over a military budget that is the envy of many European defense ministers, Meimarakis has done little since taking office in February 2006 either to advance the interests of Greece in the international community or to advance the MOD,s interests in domestic bureaucratic infighting. It is not that he has tried and failed or made a mess of things. Rather, he has been largely absent, focusing his energies on his forte, New Democracy (ND) party politics and elections. Thus, he has avoided contact with diplomats and rarely intervenes (as he could) on NATO issues -- leaving others at the MOD and in the GOG to fill the void. ...BUT CANNY ELECTORAL STRATEGIST -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Key to understanding Meimarakis, approach to the MOD portfolio lies in his long party biography. A founding member of ND,s youth league ONNED in 1974, Meimarakis has spent all his adult life promoting the party. A lawyer by training, he was involved in student politics at Athens University. He practiced briefly at a private firm but was soon caught up entirely in party activities and was elected to the ONNED executive board in 1984. He led the organization three years later to sweeping victories in university student association elections at the height of Andreas Papandreou,s second PASOK government. ¶4. (SBU) Meimarakis, performance attracted the attention of then-ND party leader Kostas Mitsotakis. An early friendship with Mitsotakis, daughter (now Foreign Minister) Dora Bakoyannis helped pull Meimarakis into the inner ND circle; in the 1989 elections, Mitsotakis endorsed Meimarakis for the Athens B district Parliamentary seat, which he has held ever since. Meimarakis served as ND party whip and Deputy Minister of Sports during the short-lived Mitsotakis government (1990-93). ¶5. (C) Meimarakis soon emerged as a key ND political strategist. Beginning in 1996, he held various election planning posts and was eventually appointed Secretary for Electoral Planning, a post he held until 2001, when he became party Central Committee Secretary. Though widely viewed as one of &Dora,s boys,8 Meimarakis also cultivated good relations with the Karamanlis bloc, winning ND leader Kostas Karamanlis, confidence. In the months preceding ND,s March 2004 general election victory, Meimarakis ran a tireless campaign mobilizing local party organizations, cementing his reputation. AT THE MOD, A FISH OUT OF WATER -------------- ¶6. (C) Meimarakis, appointment as Defense Minister in February 2006 came as a surprise. Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for Defense and Foreign Policy Panos Kammenos told us that the MOD portfolio &was not Meimarakis, first choice.8 Worse, Meimarakis had a tough act to follow, replacing Spilios Spiliotopoulos, a former Air Force pilot. Observers believe PM Karamanlis placed Meimarakis in the position to work with his old friend and newly appointed Foreign Minister Bakoyannis to overcome the intense, if muffled, rivalry between the MOD and MFA. ¶7. (C) As defense minister, Meimarakis could hardly be more different from his predecessor. Where Spiliotopoulos was warmly accepted by the military and closely managed key programs (particularly arms procurement),Meimarakis has been distant. He reportedly spends little time in the office, appears to have out-sourced procurement decisions to a meticulous (and very slow) lawyer, and has rarely traveled abroad to meet foreign counterparts (his lack of foreign language ability may contribute to this). At the same time, he has continued to focus his energies on ND politics and worked hard for the party in the campaign for the October local and regional elections (in which ND did well against opposition PASOK). SO WHO,S IN CHARGE OF THE MILITARY? -------------- ¶8. (C) The MOD,s leadership vacuum has increasingly been filled by Chief of Defense (CHOD) Admiral Panagiotis Chinofotis, who has devoted considerable energy to building confidence with the Turkish military (ref a). The Embassy regularly approaches Chinofotis on substantive matters and has found him to be an effective and straightforward interlocutor. His influence was critical in the decision to grant the U.S. CFE entitlements for armored personnel carriers for training in Romania and Bulgaria (ref b). He has also taken a pro-active approach to resolving the problem of U.S.-origin equipment transferred from Greece to Cyprus without authorization (ref c). NOW WARMING TO THE JOB? -------------- ¶9. (C) More recently, however, Meimarakis has shown indications of greater engagement. On December 12 he made a surprise visit to Greek medical and engineering personnel in Afghanistan. The precise reasons behind the visit remain unclear. While MFA NATO office director Ambassador Zografos told us the purpose of the visit was to highlight Greece's Afghanistan contribution for the Greek public, it is more likely that, in the wake of the Riga summit, the GOG felt a need to underscore its contribution since it had indicated publicly it would not send additional forces or lift caveats. On December 20, Meimarakis )- accompanied by Chinofotis -- also made a much-publicized visit to the Greek frigate Kountouriotis, which was traveling to the Lebanese coast to replace the Kanaris in the UNIFIL operation. ¶10. (C) Some see Meimarakis, increased activity as directly related to his true obsession: electoral politics. MP Kammenos believes Meimarakis, heightened interest in the MOD was because &he sees that military issues can be used in politics.8 According to Kammenos, Meimarakis could do well in the position if he received good support. As for management at the MOD, Kammenos believed Meimarakis should focus on the big picture and leave operations to strong deputies. (COMMENT: Neither of Meimarakis, two deputies have shown a taste or talent for making hard decisions, and Kammenos is obviously positioning himself for such a job. END COMMENT.) Kammenos also told us that Meimarakis had asked him personally to oversee military procurement issues, which have been a notorious source of corruption in Greece, but are now targeted for clean-up by the Karamanlis government. WHAT NEXT? -------------- ¶11. (S) While the next regular elections are not scheduled until 2008, it is more likely that Karamanlis will call early elections in the late spring or early fall of 2007. Given Meimarakis, performance at the MOD, it would be logical for him to step down as minister at that time, and replacement candidates have already begun to appear. Sources have told us that the PM is considering Justice Minister Anastasios Papaligouras, who reportedly would welcome the appointment. From our perspective, we would welcome a defense minister with greater engagement in issues key to both the U.S. and NATO. RIES