SPANISH CONTACTS ON TFTP AND SWIFT

C O N F I D E N T I A L MADRID 003036 SIPDIS SIPDIS EUR/WE AND EUR/ERA EB/ESC/TFS/S/CT TREASURY FOR MJACOBSON, JFREIS USEU BRUSSELS FOR DCM MCKINLEY EUR DAN FRIED E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/12/2016 TAGS: KTFN EFIN PTER ECON SP SUBJECT: SPANISH CONTACTS ON TFTP AND SWIFT REF: STATE 194473 Classified By: DEPUTY CHIEF OF MISSION HUGO LLORENS FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D). ¶1. (C) On December 7, EconCouns delivered reftel points to contacts at the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Interior, Finance (Director of the Treasury),and at the Bank of Spain. ¶2. (C) On December 12 DCM followed up with a call to Navarro. Navarro said he had received the points and was aware of the SWIFT issues. He noted, however, that he was fully engaged with preparations for the EU Summit on December 15 and did not have a response on Spanish thinking on the issue. The DCM reviewed the U.S. position, noting the importance of the TFTP. He also briefed Navarro that the issue might be raised on the margins of the summit. Navarro was unaware that SWIFT might be raised but promised to brief Foreign Minister Moratinos on the matter. Navarro noted that while SWIFT was partly within his portfolio, the key decision recommendations would come from the Ministry of Finance and Economy. The DCM reiterated the importance of the TFTP and this issue to the USG and noted the probability of follow up calls from senior USG officials to the Prime Minister's National Security Advisor and the Minister of Finance. ¶3. (C) On December 13, the DCM used a previously-scheduled call on Minister Pedro Solbes, Chief of Staff (and acknowledged key advisor) Soledad Abad Rico to directly raise the issue. Abad responded that her staff had received our faxed letter and had prepared a briefing memo for the Minister on the issue. Abad appreciated the importance of the issue and stated firmly that Spain had a policy of strong cooperation on terrorism finance issues with the U.S. and with the international community. Abad appreciated the measures that SWIFT was considering to comply with EU data protection recommendations as important. She said further that she did not expect Spain be an obstacle for the U.S. on this issue and had an interest in the continued successful work of the TFTP. She was interested to hear that PM Verhofstadt intended to raise the issue informally during the EU Summit and appreciated our heads up. ¶4. (C) Comment: Abad is an excellent Embassy contact and is Solbes' senior and most trusted advisor. If she was willing to engage on a policy issue and state a position in fairly unequivocal terms, then we have a pretty good sense of Solbes, own position. We still hope to talk to SecState Vegara, but his take should not be materially different than hers. End Comment. AGUIRRE