FRENCH VISIT OF POLISH PRESIDENT, FEBRUARY 24, 2006

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 001455

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/06/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV FR PO EUN
SUBJECT: FRENCH VISIT OF POLISH PRESIDENT, FEBRUARY 24, 2006

REF: WARSAW 312

Classified By: Political Minister Counselor Josiah Rosenblatt for reaso
ns 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: President Chirac and Prime Minister de
Villepin received Polish President Lech Kaczynski on February
24 for his first visit to France since taking office. Chirac
and Kaczynski discussed the future of the Weimar Triangle and
the European constitutional treaty, and Chirac told Kaczynski
that France prefers to handle European energy security in the
context of the EU (in contrast to the plan (reftel),
presented by Polish PM Marcinkiewicz, to do so in combination
with NATO). The two sides will meet again April 3, when
Marcinkiewicz comes to Paris to meet with Villepin; later in
the spring, when the second intergovernmental conference will
occur in Poland; and at an as-yet undetermined date in
Germany for the Weimar Triangle, which this year will be at
head-of-state level. The French MFA characterized the
current utility of the Weimar Triangle as a vehicle to
"channel" the Poles on Ukraine (i.e., to rein in their
promises to Ukraine of eventual EU membership) and believes
that France will "have" to do something to allow at least
some Polish workers to come work in France, a subject to be
tackled further during Marcinkiewicz's April visit.
Kaczynski also met with former president Valery Giscard
d'Estaing and former foreign minister Hubert Vedrine before
heading back to Warsaw the same evening. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) In an interview he gave to AFP before coming to
Paris, Kaczynski questioned the utility of the Weimar
Triangle, which celebrates its 15th anniversary this year.
Speaking of the vehicle for Franco-German-Polish dialogue,
Kaczynski said he would insist to Chirac and Villepin that
the group's role be clearly defined. "I am ready to accept
any sort of formula," he said, "But I can not act in the name
of the other Central European countries without a clear and
precise mandate from those countries." In addition, the
Polish president noted his frustration with the French
caricature of the Poles as a nation of plumbers. Noting that
Poland is also a country of lawyers, people who speak foreign
languages, software engineers, and mathematicians, he said,
"I would prefer that my country be known also for this."


3. (C) According to the Presidential spokesman and Vincent
Muller, the MFA desk officer for Poland, the two presidents
dealt mostly with European issues, leaving bilateral
questions for Kaczynski to discuss with PM de Villepin. In
response to Kaczynski's presentation of the draft energy
policy presented by Polish PM Marcinkiewicz (ref A),Chirac
told Kaczynski that energy policy should be dealt with within
an EU, not a NATO, framework. (NOTE: At the January 24 ECOFIN
meeting, Finance and Economy Minister Thierry Breton
presented a French plan "For a Relaunch of the European
Energy Policy In a Perspective of Sustainable Development,"
which Chirac considers to be the basis for the discussions on
the topic at this month's European Council. END NOTE.) Our
Polish embassy contact dryly described Chirac as "annoyed"
with Kaczynski for the Polish proposal. Chirac also
underlined his emphasis on the "Europe of Projects," which he
sees as a way to move Europe forward during the current
period of uncertainty. With regard to the future of the
constitutional treaty, Chirac repeated his belief that it is
essential to focus on modernizing European institutions so
that they are equipped to deal with an enlarged EU.


4. (C) Turning to the meeting with PM de Villepin, Muller
said that the encounter was important because "political
changes" in Poland (NOTE: the coming to power of the rightist
Law and Justice party, and especially its reliance on
Self-Defense and the League of Polish Families) had given
rise in France to a "certain unease" about the new
government's intentions. Muller said that given the
potential mistrust between the two governments, the French
felt the need to "intensify the dialogue." Muller said that
the French had noted the order in which Kaczynski had made
his visits -- first "to the tomb of John Paul II," then
Washington and Brussels, and finally Paris before Berlin.


5. (C) Villepin and Kaczynski discussed bilateral relations,
in particular economic issues, according to Muller. Other
topics were the opening of the French labor market to Polish
workers, the future of the CAP, and Polish-Ukrainian and
Polish-Russian relations.


6. (C) On the question of access by Polish workers to the
French labor market, Muller said that the French MFA believes
France "must" do something, even if it is symbolic. The
problem, he said, is that the deadline for the EU-15 states
to decide whether they will lift the curbs or continue them
for two more years is May 1. He said, "We could do it with
no problem if it were August 1, when everyone is on vacation"
and the move could escape the notice of public opinion. He
went on to say that he believes the two sides will come to
agreement on at least some small opening during the April 3
visit of PM Marcinkiewicz, although he declined to provide
specifics.


7. (C) When asked what the French made of Kaczynski's
pre-visit comments questioning the utility of the Weimar
Triangle, Muller said the purpose of the grouping was
changing. France feels the need to "channel" Poland's
outreach to Ukraine and rein in the Poles' efforts to give
EU candidate status and eventual membership to Ukraine.


8. (C) COMMENT: While French and Polish authorities have
found common ground on some recent issues (most notably
during the December EU budget negotiations),there remain
other arenas where differences remain -- from a French
perspective, Poland remains too pro-NATO and pro-U.S., and
its recent hold-out on agreeing to extend diminished VAT
rates for certain industries and services in Western European
countries infuriated the French. The French have a strategic
interest in better relations with the largest of the new
Central and East European states (and the EU's sixth-largest
member),in part also to ensure that Germany does not develop
its relations with Poland at the expense of France. France
also has significant and growing commercial interests, as the
largest source of foreign investment in Poland. At the same
time, the French seem to have some difficutly relating to the
Poles, especially to a government of the conservative,
religious right. In addition, the stated French approach to
the Weimar Triangle appears to betray a fundamental
misunderstanding of the Poles' position on Ukraine. END
COMMENT


Please visit Paris' Classified Website at:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm

Stapleton