POLAND ON THE GAERC: NO IMMEDIATE FEEDBACK, BUT

C O N F I D E N T I A L WARSAW 002388 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/13/2011 TAGS: PREL EU PL SUBJECT: POLAND ON THE GAERC: NO IMMEDIATE FEEDBACK, BUT UNEXPECTED INTEREST FROM FM FOTYGA REF: STATE 183545 Classified By: Political Counselor Mary Curtin, reasons 1.4(b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Pol External Chief provided reftel points November 7 by fax to Pawel Herczynski, Deputy Director of the MFA EU Department. Herczynski responded by phone November 8, indicating that he would not be able to provide feedback before the November 13-14 GAERC. He explained that the internal consultation process had been disrupted when, during the routine circulation within the MFA for departmental comment, Foreign Minister Fotyga herself had become interested in the U.S. demarche and called him personally with questions about the process of U.S.-Polish interaction on the GAERC. Fotyga had asked him specifically: "How often does the U.S. give us such a demarche? How long have they been doing this? Do they send the same demarche to all EU member states?" Herczynski said he had explained to the FM the overall process and the EU-wide nature of U.S. engagement. ¶2. (C) COMMENT. We do not know how the Minister's interest will impact future discussions. Even though Herczynski could not provide feedback on the GAERC demarche, he was very open in a November 14 discussion with Poloff about Poland's veto of EU negotiations with Russia (septel). To our knowledge, this is the first time that Fotyga - often described as a loyal "implementer" who takes no initiative without consulting President Lech Kaczynski - has intervened in consultations at the working level on any issue. We cannot be sure, but this may signal a new level of engagement on her part, either in reaction to recent public interest in U.S.-Polish relations (because of a flurry of press attention in the wake of a leaked memorandum of conversation which some claimed showed U.S. "intervention" in Polish affairs) or in anticipation of Poland's plans to block consideration of a new Partnership and Cooperation with Russia at the November 24 EU-Russia Summit (septel). Her interest in this demarche may be a passing phenomena or a negative signal of tighter control, but could also bode well for our cooperation on the GAERC if she realizes the benefit of such cooperation. End Comment. HILLAS