CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION (CWC): DEMARCHE ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L ATHENS 001953 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT ALSO FOR ISN/CB RICHARD D'ANDREA THE HAGUE FOR THE CWC DEL E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/27/2117 TAGS: PARM PREL KTIA CWC GR SUBJECT: CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION (CWC): DEMARCHE ON HOST COUNTRY AGREEMENT (HCA) WITH GREECE REF: SECSTATE 134277 Classified By: Political Counselor Robin Quinville for 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (U) This message contains an action request -- see paragraph 5. ¶2. (C) PolMil Chief delivered reftel points and proposed text (from 2005) of a host country agreement on CWC Challenge Inspections to Dionyssios Kyvetos, the senior officer responsible for CWC affairs in the Greek MFA Directorate for International Organizations and Nonproliferation. Following presentation of the points/text, Kyvetos suggested that there may be a "misunderstanding." He was unaware of the existence of the 2005 text; his briefing material for the meeting included solely the 1997 draft "Agreement" which the Greek side had requested be made "shorter and less complicated." PolMil Chief affirmed that the USG had provided to the GOG a revised draft in the form of an MOU in 2005, and expressed hope that the Government of Greece had reviewed this text and would provide reaction/comments. PolMil Chief also strongly encouraged a meeting of experts on the margins of the November 5 - 9 CWC Conference of States Parties in The Hague. Kyvetos demurred, noting that it may take the Greek MFA Legal Department "more time" to review this "new" text, but he affirmed that this document would get serious review, and that he would inform us whether the Greek side was "ready" to engage on this text at the November 5 - 9 meeting. He suggested, however, that the Greek side may not be ready to discuss the "new" text in early November. ¶3. (C) Kyvetos said the Greek MFA understood that the USG had concluded a similar agreement with the Government of Italy. Kyvetos said Greece would be most interested in reviewing this text, and he suggested that the Greek MFA legal review of this issue would be greatly accelerated if it were working from an extant text that another EU member state has found acceptable. PolMil Chief responded that we would look into what arrangements we have in place with Italy and would seek to provide further information. ¶4. (C) Comment: Kyvetos has been on the job for a little more than one year, and seemed genuinely surprised to learn that the U.S. had provided Greece with a revised text in ¶2005. We cannot explain why the Greek MFA has apparently not engaged on the 2005 text. We believe our demarche has helped energized the Greeks on this issue. We also believe, however, that sharing with the Greeks a text that we have successfully concluded with Italy will go a long way towards getting Greek concurrence on a similar text. We will, of course, follow-up and continue to encourage the Greeks to send experts to engage with U.S. experts on the margins of the November 5 - 9 Conference of States Parties for the WC. End Comment. ¶5. (SBU) Action Request: Embassy Athens requests the Department provide information that we can share with the Government of Greece on whether the U.S. has concluded a similar MOU/agreement with Italy, and, if so, the text of that MOU and any relevant background/points that we can share with the Greeks. COUNTRYMAN