EU-RUSSIA SUMMIT: PREPARATIONS UNDERWAY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HELSINKI 001131 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/06/2016 TAGS: PREL EUN PGOV ETRD ENRG PL FI RU SUBJECT: EU-RUSSIA SUMMIT: PREPARATIONS UNDERWAY Classified By: POLCHIEF Gregory Thome for reasons 1.4(b) and (d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: POLOFF on 6 November met with Finnish MFA Counselor for Russia Paivi Laine to discuss the Nov. 3 EU-Russia foreign affairs PPC and preparations for the EU-Russia summit on 24 November. The PPC had "gone well" and Northern Dimension preparations are "on track"; however, the Presidency is encountering difficulty preparing the EU mandate for the next EU-Russia Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) because Poland is holding up consensus over energy and trade concerns. The General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) meeting on 13-14 November will be one of the last opportunities for the Presidency to hammer out a deal before the upcoming summit. END SUMMARY. PPC READOUT AND NORTHERN DIMENSION PREVIEW -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Laine stated that the EU-Russia PPC meeting at the foreign minister level had gone well, even though Lavrov was somewhat reluctant to delve too deeply into issues surrounding the 'frozen conflicts'. The Finns did raise Georgia as part of the EU's continued effort to lower the temperature of the dispute. Russian FM Lavrov responded by echoing the current Russian line that Georgia alone was responsible for the escalation in tensions and that once Tbilisi ended its provocation, Moscow would respond in kind. The Presidency also raised the issue of Siberian overflights and Lavrov stated that the issue would be solved by 2013. The Presidency had hoped to secure some sort of forward movement on the issue ahead of that deadline. ¶3. (U) Laine was confident that preparations for the Northern Dimension meeting on 24 November were almost complete and that the meeting itself would be very brief (it follows the EU-Russia summit that will take place earlier that same day). The only item on the agenda is the signing of an agreement, the text of which is already complete. Moscow has, in the past, bristled over its perception that the Nordics have treated it as something of a junior partner within the Northern Dimension framework. The new agreement addresses those concerns and paves the way for enhanced cooperation on environmental and other cross-border programs of shared regional concern. TRADE AND ENERGY: WARSAW TAKING A STAND -------------- �A;¶4. (C) Preparations for the EU-Russia summit, by contrast, were not going as smoothly. Currently, Putin is scheduled to meet Finnish leaders bilaterally on 23 November; on 24 November, the EU Troika and Russia will discuss the PCA mandate, energy concerns, Georgia, the frozen conflicts, and other EU-Russia bilateral items during morning meetings and a lunch. The major 'deliverable' among these, at least from the Finnish Presidency perspective, was to be EU consensus on a negotiating package for a new EU-Russia PCA. Formulated in close cooperation with Moscow, the agreed-upon package was to be blessed at the summit and then handed over to the German Presidency for completion by June 2007. Unfortunately, Laine said, Poland alone is holding up consensus on the negotiating mandate. ¶5. (C) Warsaw has two major concerns. First, it is insisting that the PCA negotiations address the questionable sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) bans that Moscow has placed on imports of all agricultural goods of Polish origin. Since 2004, Russia has increasingly used SPS bans as a foreign policy tool against many states including several EU members and neighbors like the Netherlands, Moldova, and Georgia. In this regard, Russia's WTO membership and its accompanying enforcement mechanisms would weaken or eliminate the Kremlin's use of SPS standards as a weapon and Laine expressed hope that the ongoing US-Russia WTO bilateral negotiations would soon reach a conclusion. ¶6. (C) Second, Poland is insisting that Russia ratify the European Energy Charter before the next PCA takes effect. Laine stressed that there is genuine alarm at all levels of the Polish government over the Northern European Gas Pipeline, and that in general terms the Presidency and most EU members share those concerns. However, she said, others in HELSINKI 00001131 002 OF 002 the EU do not share Warsaw's view that holding the PCA agreement hostage is the best way to address those concerns. The EU will continue to press Russia to ratify the ECT, capitalizing on the positive tone established at the EU informals in Lahti in October. Laine stated that the Presidency is accepting Putin's statements that Russia agrees with the principles of the Energy Charter and hoped to base the PCA mandate on those principles, though not on the Charter itself, as Poland is insisting. ¶7. (C) COMMENT: Laine expressed hope that the EU could keep Warsaw from blocking consensus on the PCA mandate, given that an EU failure to offer this important 'deliverable' could cast an unhelpful shadow over some of the more difficult regional discussions. The Finns are working closely with the Poles to see if a compromise can be reached. END COMMENT. WARE