PORTUGAL'S THOUGHTS ON MARCH 5-6 GAERC

C O N F I D E N T I A L LISBON 000533

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/01/2017
TAGS: YI IR KPAL PREL PGOV ENRG PO
SUBJECT: PORTUGAL'S THOUGHTS ON MARCH 5-6 GAERC

REF: SECSTATE 23592

Classified By: Dana M. Brown, Pol-Econ Officer, Embassy Lisbon
Reason 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (U) Pol-Econ Officer met MFA Deputy EU Correspondent Ana
Filomena Rocha to solicit Portugal's views on the March GAERC
issues. Energy, the UN Human Rights Council, and climate
issues do not fall under Rocha's portfolio, so she did not
comment.


2. (SBU) BOSNIA: The EU unanimously supports the decision to
extend the mandate for the Office of the High Representative
with hopes of stabilizing the situation. Rocha doubted there
would be any significant policy change towards Bosnia over
the next couple of months but speculated that the EU could
lose patience if progress continues to drag with the ongoing
High Rep assistance.


3. (C) ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN ISSUES: Rocha stated that the
formation of Palestine's National Unity Government (NUG) is a
positive step back from internal violence. She mentioned
that Portugal would like to encourage progress and could be
willing to consider re-engaging with the new government even
in the absence of a full commitment to the Quartet
principles. However, she agreed with our assertion that the
international community will have to reserve judgment until
the NUG takes any action towards dialogue.


4. (SBU) IRAN: Rocha reported that Portugal shares our
concerns about Iran's nuclear program and is currently
implementing the EU's common position restrictions. When
asked about additional measures such as export credit
restrictions, she responded that export credits had not been
mentioned in the GAERC and would work in Portugal but
probably be unacceptable to several other EU members.


5. (U) SUDAN/DARFUR: The EU will continue to support Darfur a
while longer since it reallocated European Development Funds
for the mission. Rocha stressed that attempts to locate
funding from other donor nations like Japan, Russia,
Australia, China, and the Arab League had not been successful
-- both China and Australia have already declined outright.
Although Germany, Denmark and the UK have contributed through
bilateral donations, the mission is quickly running out of
funding options, according to Rocha.


6. (C) UZBEKISTAN: The Portuguese remain unconvinced by
arguments that Uzbekistan is ready to have a serious
discussion about human rights issues; consequently, Portugal
is not interested in lifting sanctions. Rocha said the
progress on human rights issues during the sanction term had
not been significant and that Uzbekistan had not yet
demonstrated a will to change its practices.
Hoffman