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).

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SUMMARY
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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.

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BASESCU DEFLECTS "GENOCIDE" QUESTIONS DIPLOMATICALLY
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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.

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ROMANIA: ARMENIA'S GATEWAY TO EUROPE?
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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.

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ECONOMIC COOPERATION WITH ROMANIA
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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.)

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COMMENT
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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