POLAND WILL FOLLOW EU COMMON POSITION ON CUBA

C O N F I D E N T I A L WARSAW 002370 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/06/2011 TAGS: PREL PHUM UNGA CU PL SUBJECT: POLAND WILL FOLLOW EU COMMON POSITION ON CUBA HUMAN RIGHTS RESOLUTION REF: STATE 184156 Classified By: Political Counselor Mary Curtin, reasons 1.4(b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Pol External Chief delivered reftel demarche November to Mariusz Lewicki of the MFA UN Department. After consulting widely within the MFA and contacting the Polish Mission in New York, Lewicki responded late in the evening that the GOP had decided the "highest priority was to maintain the common EU position." Poland would therefore oppose the no action motion, abstain on the Australian human rights amendment, and support the overall Cuba resolution. Lewicki also commented that Poland had to choose its battles within the EU, and the Cuba resolution was not at present an issue of great enough relative importance for the GOP to break EU ranks. ¶2. (C) COMMENT. Poland is attempting to repair relations with key EU partners such as Germany and France, while at the same time assuaging concerns in Brussels that the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party is Euro-skeptical. This is compounded by the perception in Europe since the beginning of OIF that Poland is too much of a U.S. surrogate within the EU. In addition, the October 27 dismissal as MFA Americas Department Director Henryk Szlajfer, a Latin American scholar and extremely close Embassy contact, has removed perhaps the most vocal advocate of a strong Cuba policy in the entire GOP. With Szlajfer out of the picture, it may be difficult in the future to count on active GOP support for U.S. initiatives on Cuba. END COMMENT. ASHE