Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06MADRID3082
2006-12-21 14:38:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Madrid
Cable title:  

USOSCE AMB FINLEY CONSULTS SPAIN ON ITS OSCE

Tags:  PREL OSCE SP 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO1428
PP RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHLA RUEHMRE RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHMD #3082/01 3551438
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 211438Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY MADRID
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1499
INFO RUCNOSC/ORGANIZATION FOR SECURITY COOPERATION IN EUROPE
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE PRIORITY 0112
RUEHLA/AMCONSUL BARCELONA 2303
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MADRID 003082 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/20/2016
TAGS: PREL OSCE SP
SUBJECT: USOSCE AMB FINLEY CONSULTS SPAIN ON ITS OSCE
CHAIRMANSHIP


MADRID 00003082 001.2 OF 002


Classified By: DCM Hugo Llorens for reasons 1.4 (b) & (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MADRID 003082

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/20/2016
TAGS: PREL OSCE SP
SUBJECT: USOSCE AMB FINLEY CONSULTS SPAIN ON ITS OSCE
CHAIRMANSHIP


MADRID 00003082 001.2 OF 002


Classified By: DCM Hugo Llorens for reasons 1.4 (b) & (d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: USOSCE Ambassador Finley discussed Spain's
plans for its upcoming OSCE Chairmanship-in-Office with
Spanish OSCE Task Force Director Lopez Jorrin and his team on
December 15. Finley and Lopez Jorrin discussed the
importance of focusing the next OSCE ministerial on a few key
issues in order to make it more attractive for attending
Ministers and to provide a clearer public understanding of
OSCE's role. They agreed that Kazakhstan should demonstrate
progress before it would be able to take the chairmanship.
Finley explained that the US would stand firm on budget
issues related to Georgia, Moldova, and the ODIHR proposal on
tolerance, and that this might mean that the organization
would not have a budget for several months. They also
discussed Spain's focus on Central Asia, the need for strong
leadership of OSCE missions, the dates for the next
ministerial, and problems with the leadership of the OSCE
Parliamentary Assembly. Finally, Lopez Jorrin talked about
his plans to visit Washington, as well as London and Moscow,
as soon as possible. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) USOSCE Ambassador Julie Finley met on December 15 with
Spanish OSCE Chairmanship-in-Office Task Force Director
Ambassador Jose Angel Lopez Jorrin, OSCE unit director Jose
Luis Lozano, Deputy Director General for North America Jose
Moyano, and several members of the Task Force. She also met
briefly with Director General for Europe and North American
Jose Pons, who oversees OSCE policy.

-- THE NEXT OSCE MINISTERIAL: LESS IS MORE --


3. (C) Ambassador Finley and Lopez Jorrin agreed that, for
the sake of the ministers and public consumption, "less is
more" when it comes to OSCE Ministerials. Ambassador Finley
said that the next Ministerial would be attended by and hold
the attention of more ministers if it focused on three or
four key decisions that merited their attention. Lopez
Jorrin agreed, saying that fewer, more important issues would
make the meeting more interesting and get better press
coverage. He said that many Brussels Ministerial items were

added to the agenda at the last minute even though they
weren't ready for ministerial consideration. Lopez Jorrin
said that Spain would consider setting a deadline for
excluding items from the agenda, but noted, however, that the
consensus decision making process would make it difficult to
be firm on deadlines because some countries use delay as a
negotiating tactic.


4. (C) Ambassador Finley said that she understood that the
GOS had already made a number of key arrangements related to
the Madrid Ministerial in 2007 and that it would be hard to
shift away from the November 29-30 dates that most countries
supported. She said that she would talk with Washington to
get a final decision as soon as possible so that planning
could go forward. Lopez Jorrin confirmed that the GOS would
hold the Madrid Ministerial at the IFEMA conference center,
where it has held the October 2003 Iraq Donors' Conference,
the 1997 NATO Summit, and other major events.


5. (C) They also discussed several smaller refinements to the
Ministerial, such as changing the seating arrangement so that
the same countries are not always next to each other,
creating a bigger role for Partners' ministers, adding a
ministers-only meeting, and replacing the dinner with a
breakfast. Lopez Jorrin said that Foreign Minister Moratinos
would be closely following the planning for the Ministerial.

-- THE PATH TO KAZAKHSTAN'S CHAIRMANSHIP --


6. (C) Ambassador Finley told Lopez Jorrin that the US sees
little value in discussing Kazakhstan's 2009 chairmanship bid
before the Madrid Ministerial or in reviewing its position
before then. She said that Kazakhstan knows what actions the
US believes that it needs to take to demonstrate commitment
to human rights and democratic values, and that it is time to
wait and see what Kazakhstan chooses to do. Lopez Jorrin
said that while Spain's national position continues to favor
Kazakhstan's chairmanship in 2009, Spain as
Chairman-in-Office wants to avoid getting stuck on this
issue. He said that Spain would agree not to bring the
Kazakhstan question up for debate too early and would
encourage the Kazakhs to show progress on democracy and human
rights issues in hopes of demonstrating its readiness for
2009 or 2011. Ambassador Finley said that if President
Nazarbayev started moving right away to get his Congress to
pass a list of democratic reforms and then started
implementing some of them, it might increase chances for
approval.


MADRID 00003082 002.2 OF 002



7. (C) In response to questions from Deputy DG Moyano (who
was recently Spanish DCM in Moscow) about whether withholding
the chairmanship from Kazakhstan would push the country into
Russia's arms or discourage the countries east of Vienna,
Ambassador Finley said that Kazakhstan has lots of strong
bilateral relationships, and said that the OSCE issue would
not likely spill over into the bilateral relationships. She
also raised the idea that an informal group of Nazarbayev's
peers (former presidents such as Bush '41, Havel,
Kwasniewski, Li Kwon Yu) could be arranged so that Nazerbayev
would get encouragement from people whom he considered to be
at his level.

-- BUDGET --


8. (C) Ambassador Finley said that the budget problems that
Russia was causing had caught the US by surprise. She said
that the US had been very accommodating last year, but would
stand firm on several issues this year, possibly leading to a
budget-less period. She said that the US was concerned about
Russia-proposed cuts to the budgets for the Georgia and
Moldova missions, as well the ODIHR proposal, which
unacceptably diminishes the term "anti-Semitism." Lopez
Jorrin said that Spain agreed with the US positions, but
didn't see an obvious solution to the budget impasse. He
acknowledged that the organization could probably continue
for six months or so on the existing budget.

-- PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY LEADERSHIP --


9. (C) Ambassador Finley and Lopez-Jorrin agreed on the need
to find a way to improve the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's
work, which was often stymied by the Assembly's current
leadership. Lopez-Jorrin said he was thinking about
suggesting a three-way meeting among the leaders of the
Parliamentary Assembly, the CiO, and the OSCE SYG.

-- FOCUS ON CENTRAL ASIA --


10. (C) Lopez Jorrin said that Spain would focus on
environmental issues (soil erosion and water) within the
second dimension and diversity and participation within a
pluralistic society within the third dimension because
western and eastern countries could participate equally in
these discussions, without dividing the organization into
"students and teachers." He said that Central Asia is a
region of strategic importance that is overlooked within
Spain, and that MFA would use Spain's OSCE Chairmanship to
focus attention on the region. Ambassador Finley applauded
this assessment, saying that she had recently increased
USOSCE's engagement with this region by adding to her
schedule a weekly meeting with five Central Asian
ambassadors. Lopez Jorrin told Ambassador Finley that he
would visit Central Asia in March.


11. (C) He said that MFA had already met with Roy Reeves,
head of the OSCE Georgia Mission, and that Spain would be
looking for ways to increase support to Reeves. Lopez Jorrin
noted the recent meetings of the Minsk Group with Deputy FM
Leon and said that if the Azerbaijan and Armenian presidents
meet to discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh situation, FM Moratinos
would consider attending as OSCE Chairman. In general, he
said that Spain would not interfere in the frozen conflicts,
but would offer its support and assistance as requested by
the key players.

-- SPANISH PLANS --


12. (C) Lopez Jorrin discussed FM Moratino's plan for a
conference on intolerance against Muslims in May in Cordoba.
He emphasized that Spain was coordinating closely with
Romania regarding its conference, saying that Spain would
adjust its plans according to the format of the Bucharest
conference. Lopez Jorrin also reiterated that Spain will
reappoint the three Personal Representatives. He asked for
US support for Spanish efforts to provide better support to
the Representatives.
AGUIRRE