POLAND FAST-TRACKING IEA MEMBERSHIP

C O N F I D E N T I A L WARSAW 000791 SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR, EUR/NCE, EUR/ERA, EB/ESC EUR FOR DAS MPEKALA EUR/NCE FOR DKOSTELANCIK AND MSESSUMS EB/ESC FOR SGALLOGLY, RGARVERICK, JLEWANDOWSKI DOE FOR LEKIMOFF USDOC FOR 4232/ITA/MAC/EUR/JBURGESS, JKIMBALL, MWILSON PARIS PASS TO US MISSION OECD AND IEA E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/27/2016 TAGS: ENRG ECON EPET PL SUBJECT: POLAND FAST-TRACKING IEA MEMBERSHIP REF: WARSAW 525 AND PREVIOUS Classified By: Economic Counselor Richard Rorvig for reasons 1.4 (b) an d (d). ¶1. (C) Pawlel Konzal, Advisor to Minister of Economy told us on April 28 that Poland is fast-tracking IEA membership. The GOP recently held discussions with the IEA's Deputy Executive Director Bill Ramsey concerning membership requirements, telling him that Poland would like to become a full member this year. Poland hopes to have a membership review in October and become a full member in November. ¶2. (C) According to Konzal, the GOP must pass three laws and improve storage capacity to meet the IEA's requirements The Polish Parliament must pass one of the laws. The other two can be created by Executive decree. One of these has already been signed by Minister of Economy Wozniak, the second is awaiting Prime Minister Marcinkiewicz's signature. The parliamentary law, which should be drafted by the end of May, will be sent to the IEA for comments, which the GOP hopes to have in June so that the bill can be submitted to the Sejm in July. The IEA apparently agreed to review the draft law to ensure that it meets IEA standards and to speed up the membership process. ¶3. (C) Konzal explained that the GOP had an internal discussion about IEA oil storage requirements and Wozniak's staff was able to convince him that the GOP could agree to meet the IEA's 90-day of imports stockpile requirements. The argument was buttressed by the fact that new members have two years to meet the requirement. Konzal noted that the GOP will have to meet the EU's own 90 days of consumption requirement by 2009 anyway, and so meeting 90 days of import by 2008 should not be a hardship. Currently, Poland has 76 days of imports in storage. ¶4. (C) Comment: Poland's push to join the IEA is good news for the USG as it will add a consumer country to the membership roles. The continued urging of USG officials helped the GOP to speed up the process and make a difficult budget decision. Poland's membership in the IEA may also soften some European criticism that Poland is not willing to pay for its energy security. ASHE