FINNISH VIEWS ON JUNE GAERC

C O N F I D E N T I A L HELSINKI 000523

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/08/2011
TAGS: PREL UN EUN YI MW SR BO IR IZ CU KPAL FI
SUBJECT: FINNISH VIEWS ON JUNE GAERC

REF: STATE 91167

Classified By: PolChief Gregory Thome, Reasons 1.5 (b) and (d).


1. (U) PolChief delivered subject demarche to European
Correspondent Jarno Syrjala June 7. Syrjala said the GOF
generally supports most of our points and suggested that the
ministers will focus on the Balkans and Iran.


2. (C) On Iran, Syrjala reiterated the warm welcome others in
the GOF have expressed toward the new US diplomatic approach.
He noted that it will be crucial for all 25 EU member states
to support fully joint US/EU-3 efforts and that such support
will depend on the EU-3 sharing as much information as
possible with other members. He said that the US appears to
want to be as transparent as possible, which should help
facilitate information sharing.


3. (SBU) On the Balkans, the Montenegrin parliament's fast
decision to declare independence took the EU by surprise,
Syrjala said. The GOF is not overly concerned with the
declaration itself given that, in general, the Serbs still
"appear to be OK" with post-referendum developments.
However, he added, in the wake of the EU's decision to
suspend negotiations with Belgrade -- and with Kosovo talks
appearing to trend away from what the Serbs are hoping for --
some EU foreign ministers are less sanguine than the Finns
about how the Montenegrins' decision will affect Serb
thinking. Syrjala also opined that the carrot of a "European
perspective" could actually turn into a stick, given that
Serbia appears likely to continue to fall short of its ICTY
obligations. The GOF "wants something positive to happen for
Serbia," but ICTY cooperation remains a non-negotiatable
condition that must be met.
WARE