ROMANIAN PRESIDENT PUSHES EURO INTEGRATION DURING

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 001429 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/CARC E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/12/2016 TAGS: NATO PGOV PREL RO AM SUBJECT: ROMANIAN PRESIDENT PUSHES EURO INTEGRATION DURING YEREVAN VISIT REF: YEREVAN 1403 Classified By: CDA A. F. Godfrey for reasons 1.4 (b, d). -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (C) Romanian President Traian Basescu played the role of European statesman during his visit to Yerevan last week, using his meetings to push issues high on the agenda of most Western diplomatic missions in Armenia. Basescu's nuanced approach was a marked contrast to that of French President Jacques Chirac (reftel),who told Armenians what they wanted to hear during his visit days earlier. While Chirac publicly commiserated with President Kocharian on "genocide" recognition, Basescu avoided the issue as much as possible, instead reassuring his counterpart that Romania would remain neutral on Nagorno Karabakh, and emphasizing regional stability as an essential precursor to Armenian Euro-Atlantic integration. END SUMMARY. -------------- -------------- BASESCU DEFLECTS "GENOCIDE" QUESTIONS DIPLOMATICALLY -------------- -------------- ¶2. (C) During his October 4-5 visit, Basescu paid the customary visits to the "Genocide" Memorial, where he planted a tree and signed the memorial book, and to the Ararat Brandy factory, where he signed the "peace keg," which will be opened once N-K is resolved. He was, however, a consummate diplomat in his careful public statements on N-K and "genocide" recognition. When asked at Yerevan State University whether Romania would recognize the "genocide," Basescu said, "We'll not do anything affecting our neutrality on the Black Sea in our relations with all countries of the Black Sea." He also suggested the "genocide" recognition should not be a precondition to Turkey's accession to the EU. "Historical disputes should not be transferred to the EU or NATO," he said. Romanian diplomat Marius Florescu-Ciobotaru told us Basescu did not discuss "genocide" at all during his private meeting with Kocharian. ¶3. (C) Florescu-Ciobotaru said the Romanian president's main agenda for the visit was to smooth over the effects of his statement at the International Bertelsmann Forum in Berlin in late September. During the conference, Basescu spoke after Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, saying the rights of national minorities should not take precedence over the principal of territorial integrity in ethnic disputes. The Azerbaijani press had reported that Basescu agreed with the Azerbaijani position, angering the GOAM, Florescu-Ciobotaru told us. As a result, Basescu spent his visit to Yerevan emphasizing Romania's neutrality on NK. ¶4. (C) Florescu-Ciobotaru told us that Romania did not feel it had enough credibility -- as a young democracy with corruption problems of its own -- to lecture Armenia on its democratization record, and would be unlikely to do so in the near future. Instead, Romania would focus on economic and stability issues in which it felt it had standing to speak. -------------- ROMANIA: ARMENIA'S GATEWAY TO EUROPE? -------------- ¶5. (U) In his public appearances, Basescu obliquely referred to Armenia's problems with Turkey and particularly Azerbaijan, saying that Romania supported Armenian Euro-Atlantic integration in the context of "peace and stability in the Transcaucasian region." To Prime Minister Andranik Markarian, Basescu offered Romania's help in Armenian efforts to establish closer ties with the EU, according to media reports. However, he also said that no country with an "ethnic problem" should join the EU. -------------- ECONOMIC COOPERATION WITH ROMANIA -------------- ¶5. (C) President Kocharian said during the joint press conference October 5 that Armenia is interested in developing trade routes to Europe via Romania's Black Sea port of Constanza. He noted that the proper infrastructure was not yet in place, but said he would like to see such cooperation before Romania's EU accession. Florescu-Ciobotaru commented that exporters would like to fill rail cars with Armenian YEREVAN 00001429 002 OF 002 goods, ship them on a not-yet-operating ferry from the Georgian port of Batumi, and from there to the European rail system. The problem is that the company that owns the Batumi port uses Russian (Soviet) gauge rail cars. (NOTE: This is a solvable problem, but it would require a transfer crane system, like the Armenians have (now sitting idle) at the Armenian-Turkish border to transfer the containers from one set of rail wheels to another, adding a bit of time delay and therefore cost to the transit, as well as the right type of railcars. END NOTE.) -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶6. (C) Though Basescu did not discuss democracy-building or free and fair elections, his emphasis on NK resolution and judicious handling of Armenian-Turkish controversies was much more useful for us diplomatically than Chirac's indulgent "genocide" talk. Basescu,s willingness to push regional stability, and talk plainly to Armenians about what their poor relationship with Turkey costs them, stood in sharp contrast to Chirac,s feel-good visit, which wasted a golden opportunity to engage Kocharian directly on elections and other key priorities. GODFREY