GERMAN VIEWS ON THE DECEMBER FOREIGN MINISTERS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BERLIN 003462 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/08/2016 TAGS: PREL PGOV EU GM SUBJECT: GERMAN VIEWS ON THE DECEMBER FOREIGN MINISTERS MEETING REF: A. STATE 195044 ¶B. STATE 194456 Classified By: POL M/C John Bauman for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. SUMMARY. Embassy officers talked to numerous contacts in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Chancellery about issues that will arise during the upcoming GAERC (see reftels) and European Council meetings. Chancellery officials stated that Turkey's failure to fulfill its obligations caused Chancellor Merkel to feel a future review of its membership bid by member states at the highest level was appropriate. Turkey's last minute bid to open some of its ports was greeted with caution. MFA officials stated that a large majority of member states opposed any change to the China arms embargo and they expected no movement on this front. MFA officials expressed increasing concern that Russia may not be flexible in the process of determining Kosovo's final status, and they stressed the need for greater EU-US/NATO cooperation in Kosovo. END SUMMARY. Turkey -------------- ¶2. (C) Chancellery official Geza von Geyr, Director for the office that includes Turkey, said Chancellor Merkel's proposal for an additional Council review of Turkey's EU bid sometime after the fall of 2007 was motivated by frustration that Turkey has not fulfilled its obligations and a desire to keep control of the negotiations in the hands of the Council. Domestic politics also required Merkel to act, since there is growing pressure to stop negotiations from the public and within her party according to von Geyr. Niklolaus Meyer-Landrut, Deputy Director for the Chancellery's EU office, expressed a commonly heard frustration that the Chancellor's proposal was being taken out of context, but did admit that her proposal had ramifications for Turkey's accession that could not be clearly foreseen at this time. ¶3. (C) A variety of contacts at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Merkel's call for a new Council review of Turkey's bid caught them by surprise, and even as of December 7 they remained uncertain about the exact nature of the review and its consequences for Turkey's chances to join the EU. Despite his surprise, Philipp Deichmann, deputy office director for EU expansion at the MFA, argued that there are no real differences between the MFA and Chancellery on Turkey since Merkel's proposal did not fundamentally alter German policy. Deichmann said the MFA thought the Commission proposal to suspend 8 chapters was fair, but added that this would not stop progress on the other chapters. He suggested that a few of the uncontroversial chapters might be opened during the German EU presidency in the first half of 2007. Thomas Schieb, Deputy EU Correspondent, said Turkey's latest proposal to open one of their ports to goods from Cyprus will soften the mood toward Turkey at the GAERC, but said that Foreign Minister Steinmeier will nonetheless put forward Merkel's proposal for an additional Council review of Turkey's progress. Scheib also voiced the often heard frustration with the obstructionist behavior of the Cypriots. China Arms Embargo/Code of Conduct -------------- ¶4. (C) MFA Export Control Division Desk Officer Jan Freigang said that although the German Government agrees on the need to improve the EU Code of Conduct governing arms transfers, it shares the USG stance that the consultations on this at the European Council meeting should not be linked to a discussion of ending the EU arms embargo on China. Freigang reiterated that Germany has imposed stricter standards on what constitutes a military export to China than the EU Code of Conduct allows. He ended by saying that Germany is not iclined to support an end to the arms embargo on hina. ¶5. (C) Thomas Schieb said the Finns wereinterested in making the code of conduct legallybinding and decided to bring it forward at the GERC for domestic political reasons. In response France wanted to do away with the embargo sincethey feel a legally binding code would make the embrgo redundant. Germany did not share this view ince they believe China must fulfill additional criteria than those outlined in the code of conduct before the embargo could be lifted. Schieb stated that many other member states shared their position and he did not expect consensus to be achieved on either proposal. Western Balkans -------------- BERLIN 00003462 002 OF 002 ¶6. (C) Wenke Crudopf, Serbia desk officer, and Schieb expressed concern about Russian intentions as the Kosovo status question comes to a final decision. Both expressed frequently heard German concerns that the Russia position is becoming less flexible and the fear that Russia might block separating Kosovo from Serbia. Both also agreed that the status question should be decided quickly after the Serbian elections without waiting for the Serbs to form a new government. Schieb said that granting Partnership for Peace status to Serbia before it completely fulfilled its obligations on war criminals caused some EU member states to suggest something similar on the EU Stabilization and Association (SAA) negotiations with Serbia. However, Crudopf and Schieb stated that Germany was opposed to loosening the ICTY conditionality for Serbia's SAA. ¶7. (C) Haedwych Hazelzet, ESDP desk officer at the MFA, said that once Kosovo's status decision was made, the EU was planning to deploy its largest ESDP mission to Kosovo, but the timing of this deployment was slipping due to the Serbian elections in January. Hazelzet said the EU was interested in closely coordinating this mission with NATO and the United States. Schieb said the need for coordination on this mission and the Chancellor's desire to deepen EU-US/NATO relations would lead Germany to propose the creation of a formal US-EU agreement on civil crisis management during its EU presidency. TIMKEN JR