CYPRIOT REPLY TO US SCALE ASSESMENTS DEMARCHE

S E C R E T NICOSIA 001728 SIPDIS SIPDIS SECSTATE FOR IO/S, EUR/SE E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/06/2016 TAGS: UNGA IO CY SUBJECT: CYPRIOT REPLY TO US SCALE ASSESMENTS DEMARCHE REF: STATE 153946 Classified By: Ambassador Ronald Schlicher for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D) ¶1. (S) In response to Reftel regarding potential changes to United Nations scales of assessment, Poloff October 6 demarched Marios Kountourides, the Cypriot MFA's deputy director for Multilateral Affairs. Kountourides claimed the U.S. initiative -- to maintain the cap on individual nations, assessments at 22 percent -- had some merit. His personal belief aside, Cyprus intended to fall in line with other EU member states in seeking to raise the ceiling to 25 percent. ¶2. (C) Kountourides offered that, as a "small country," Cyprus's assessment would not change dramatically. It was not worth expending valuable political capital in Brussels to dissent, since the EU's "big countries" had decided to pursue a change. He added that Cyprus often played the "reliable partner" role, supporting the EU consensus in order to garner member states, support on the Cyprus problem. ¶3. (C) Kountourides also believed the EU's Finnish Presidency favored a compromise of raising the ceiling to 25 percent, as the U.K. proposal outlined, but agreeing to the use of the 3-year average of the Gross National Income as the U.S. favored, as opposed to the suggested 6-year average. SCHLICHER