FRANCE WRONGFOOTED ON LEVITZKY INCB CANDIDACY

C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 002305 SIPDIS SIPDIS USUN PLEASE PASS TO HUGH DUGAN E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/07/2016 TAGS: SNAR AORC PREL FR UN SUBJECT: FRANCE WRONGFOOTED ON LEVITZKY INCB CANDIDACY REF: STATE 47574 Classified By: Political Minister Counselor Josiah B. Rosenblatt. Reasons 1.4b,d ¶1. (C) An abashed IO DAS-Equivalent Beatrice Le Fraper confided to poloff on 4/7 that France had already pledged to back Belgian and German candidates for the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) prior to her learning from the Embassy on 3/27 of the USG request to support ambassador Levitzky. ¶2. (C) France made common cause with with Belgium and Germany in order to obtain broader European support for French national Professor Lagier. The WHO, which has the right to advance its own candidates to the INCB, unexpectedly put Lagier forward, and the MFA, which had not counted on or sought to recruit a French candidate, felt an obligation to support him. ¶3. (C) Within the WEOG group, France is left without a vote to spare. However, Le Fraper has instructed her office to examine how France -- without breaking its commitments to Berlin and Brussels -- might still rally to the Levitzky candidacy, perhaps by poaching a vote that would normally be set aside for non-WEOG candidates. Please visit Paris' Classified Website at: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm Stapleton