CFE ENTITLEMENTS: GREEK COUNTER-PROPOSAL ON MOU

C O N F I D E N T I A L ATHENS 000362

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/20/2017
TAGS: PARM PREL NATO KCFE GR
SUBJECT: CFE ENTITLEMENTS: GREEK COUNTER-PROPOSAL ON MOU

REF: A. STATE 016790


B. STATE 08647

C. STATE 010667

D. SECSTATE 19334

Classified By: POLCOUNS ROBIN QUINVILLE. REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D).


1. (C) On February 20, DepPolCouns met with MFA D2 Deputy
Director Chronis Polychroniou to discuss ref d points, which
Embassy had delivered to Polychroniou's office last week
during his absence. Polychroniou provided a counter-proposal
on the draft MOU, which he said the GoG would now prefer to
call a "verbal note" (see text in para 4 below). He
explained this change was due to the need to avoid the
drawn-out legal negotiations that a more formal MOU might
entail.


2. (C) Polychroniou was aware of the U.S. desire to conclude
an agreement as soon as possible but said Greece would like
to do so at the same time as Turkey and Norway, since Greece
viewed the entitlement transfers as a "package." DepPolCouns
explained that, while the U.S. intended to continue
negotiations with Turkey regarding additional ACVs, we wished
to move to closure with all parties due to reporting
requirements. Polychroniou said he found it difficult to
understand how the U.S. could finalize the issue at this
point if it did not have all the entitlement transfers that
the Pentagon had said were minimum requirements to conduct
its training exercises in Romania and Bulgaria. In any case,
he noted, there was still time before the March deadline to
continue discussions with Turkey.


3. (C) Polychroniou mentioned that he would be at the next
HLTF in Brussels in early March and would be available to
discuss the issue further. Finally, he requested that U.S.
legal advisor Jeffrey Gibbs contact MFA legal advisor
Stavridi directly if further discussion on wording issues
were necessary.


4. (SBU) BEGIN TEXT OF GREEK COUNTER-PROPOSAL:

VERBAL NOTE DRAFT

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Hellenic Republic
presents its compliments to the Embassy of the United States
of America and with reference to the Treaty on Conventional
Armed Forces in Europe of November 19, 1990, as amended by
the Document of May 31, 1996, agreed among the States Parties
to the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe of
November 19, 1990, (hereinafter referred to as the &CFE
Treaty8) and the request of the United States of America for
the temporary transfer of a number of CFE entitlements to
hold armaments and equipment limited by the CFE Treaty, has
the honour to propose the following, which reflects
consultations held between the Greek and American delegations
in the course of 2006 and 2007:

The Hellenic Republic, having considered in a positive spirit
the request of the United States of America for the transfer
of CFE Treaty flank zone entitlements in order to accommodate
rotational activities of the armed forces of the United
States of America at facilities in Romania and Bulgaria, is
prepared to assist and to transfer the following number of
CFE ground entitlements:

40 battle tanks,
91 armoured combat vehicles, and
15 pieces of artillery

The aforementioned entitlements are to be transferred under
the following terms:


1. The Hellenic Republic issues notifications under the CFE
Treaty, thereby permitting the United States of America to
hold the number of ground entitlements listed above in that
portion of the area of application covered by Article V of
the Treaty.


2. The United States of America issues notifications under
the CFE Treaty, thereby permitting the Hellenic Republic to
hold for each category equal number of ground entitlements as
listed above in that portion of the area of application
covered by Article IV para 2 of the Treaty.


3. The appropriate notifications are to be issued in a way
that does not change the national maximum level of holdings,
referred to in CFE Treaty Article VII, for either the
Hellenic Republic or the United States of America. The
notifications are to be issued not later than ten days after
completion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization approval
process.


4. These entitlements are exchanged on a temporary basis.
The United States of America declares its willingness to
return the entitlements when it has determined that it has no
further need for them.


5. The entitlements received by the United States of America
may be transferred only on a temporary basis for training and
exercises to other members of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization that are also members of the second or
&western8 group of States Parties as defined in Article II,
paragraph 1(A) of the CFE Treaty and are not situated in the
flank zone of Article V of the CFE Treaty, in which case the
original donor state is to be notified in advance.

The entitlements received by the Hellenic Republic may be
transferred only on a temporary basis for training and
exercises to other members of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization that are also members of the second or
&western8 group of the States Parties as defined in Article
II, paragraph 1(A) of the CFE Treaty, in which case the
original donor state is to be notified in advance.


6. The Hellenic Republic and the United States of America
commit to hold consultations in order to review the operation
and the necessity of keeping in force this agreement within
twenty-four (24) months from the date it becomes effective
and thereafter once every year. Consultations are also to
take place upon the request of either government. The
request may be based upon any change in circumstances or
events that causes the requesting government to conclude that
consultations are necessary, including any desire to modify
by mutual consent this agreement.


7. The retransfer of the entitlements specified above is to
take place before the entry into force of the Agreement on
Adaptation of the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe,
signed on November 19, 1999, in Istanbul. Once that
Agreement adapts the CFE Treaty, the United States of America
does not require further use of the transferred entitlements.
The entitlements are to be returned during the ten-day
period specified in paragraph 3 of Article 31 of the
Agreement on Adaptation that is initiated through the
acceptance by the Depositary of the last instrument of
ratification necessary to bring the Agreement on Adaptation
into force. In such a case, both the Hellenic Republic and
the United States of America are to issue appropriate
notifications under the CFE Treaty so that the entitlements
are returned within that same ten-day period.


8. Either State may temporarily suspend or terminate at any
time the application of this agreement whenever it considers
that extraordinary circumstances so require. Such
termination or suspension or any withdrawal of the suspension
shall be immediately notified to the other State in writing
through diplomatic channels. In such a case the entitlements
are to be returned within 10 days from the date of
notification of the termination of suspension and appropriate
notifications are to be issued within that same ten-day
period. The same procedure for notifications shall be
followed in case of withdrawal of the suspension.

If the above is acceptable to the Embassy of the United
States of America, then the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of
the Hellenic Republic proposes that this note together with
the affirmative note in reply of the Embassy of the United
States of America constitute an agreement between the two
States that becomes effective on the date of the reply note.
(Athens, date)

END TEXT OF GREEK COUNTER-PROPOSAL
RIES