POLITICAL GOALS OF THE GERMAN EU PRESIDENCY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BERLIN 001993

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/14/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV EU GM
SUBJECT: POLITICAL GOALS OF THE GERMAN EU PRESIDENCY

REF: BERLIN 1651

Classified By: Acting POL Counselor Mike Martin for reasons 1.4 (B) and
(D).


1. (C) (Summary) According to our contacts, the Germans have
identified four main political goals to pursue during their
EU presidency next year. They hope to create a new EU
neighborhood policy that encourages countries of the former
Soviet Union such as Ukraine and Georgia to pursue reforms
during a period when they do not have a realistic prospect of
EU membership. The Germans will also focus on a new
agreement to regulate relations between the EU and Russia
(the existing 10 year agreement expires next year). A third
goal will be to strengthen the EU's ties with Central Asia.
In addition, the Germans hope the EU can achieve consensus
during their presidency on a roadmap that will lead to
ratification of an EU constitution by 2009. The Germans are
also looking at initiatives on the economic, environmental,
energy, and justice/counter-terrorism fronts. (End Summary)

Neighborhood Policy


2. (C) Poloffs met with Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut, Deputy
Director General for European Affairs at the Chancellery,
Thomas Schieb, Deputy European Correspondent at the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, and other contacts in government and
think tanks to discuss Germany's goals for its EU presidency.
A thread running through all these discussions was the
Germans' desire to re-energize the EU's neighborhood policy,
with particular emphasis on the former Soviet republics in
Eastern Europe and the Caucasus. Our contacts pointed to
Chancellor Merkel's major speeches on the EU, where she
consistently noted the limited possibilities for EU
enlargement at this time. Given the unlikelihood of EU
expansion eastward in the near future, the Germans view a new
neighborhood policy as necessary to sustain the reform
process in these countries. Chancellor Merkel has promised
that this neighborhood policy would constitute more than just
a free trade relationship. In an EU policy speech, she
pledged the neighborhood policy would offer participation in
the EU economy nearly equivalent to that of member states,
but without a decision making voice.

Central Asia


3. (C) When asked if this new neighborhood policy would
extend to the Central Asian republics, Chancellery and MFA
contacts say this is unlikely. But they add that Germany
wants to use its presidency to strengthen the EU's relations
with the countries of Central Asia, to help them look
westward and make clear to them that they have alternatives
to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. A meeting at the
foreign minister level between Germany and the five Central
Asian republics is currently being planned for spring of

2007. According to contacts at German foundations with close
ties to the government, the dialogue is likely to focus on
natural resources (energy security and water distribution),
organized crime, political liberalization, and free trade.
The EU will likely offer aid to fight narcotics trafficking,
strengthen the rule of law, resolve border issues, and
enhance press freedom.

Russia


4. (C) The EU will also negotiate a new Partnership and
Cooperation Agreement (PCA) with Russia during the German
presidency. The current ten year agreement, which forms the
overall basis for EU relations with Russia, runs out at the
end of 2007. While the current agreement could be extended
year by year, the Germans feel that an entirely new agreement
is necessary that reflects the vast changes experienced by
both the EU and Russia since 1997. Germany will seek to
include a pact on EU-Russia energy cooperation in the PCA,
which would address access to energy markets and resources
(similar to the Energy Charter that Russia decided not to
ratify). Our contacts stress that obtaining consensus within
the EU on the proper approach to Russia will not be easy.
Negotiations with the Russians will also be extremely
difficult, and the Germans do not expect a final agreement to
be signed until late-2007, during the Portuguese presidency.

EU Constitution


5. (C) The Germans hope they can find a way during their
presidency to achieve consensus on moving forward with the EU
constitution. To relaunch the ratification process, Germany
will host an informal EU summit in Berlin on March 25th that
will commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Treaty of
Rome. The leaders at this summit are expected to sign a
political declaration on European values, which is being
likened to a new EU statement of purpose. This would be
followed by the regular June summit in Brussels where Germany
hopes to present an agreed roadmap to complete ratification
of the constitution by 2009. Our contacts maintain that
"cherry-picking" a few pieces of the existing constitution
will not work. However, Chancellery official Meyer-Landrut
suggested they might have to reconfigure the constitution to
ensure it can be ratified. While he was vague on this topic,
other government contacts have suggested this might mean
focusing on the fundamental rights and institutional
arrangements discussed in the first two sections of the
constitution, and dropping the third section, which has the
longest and most detailed list of required institutional
changes.
TIMKEN JR