POLAND-OSCE: GOP REQUESTS U.S. SUPPORT FOR HCNM

C O N F I D E N T I A L WARSAW 000648

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/RPM AND EUR/NCE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/07/2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM OSCE PINR PL
SUBJECT: POLAND-OSCE: GOP REQUESTS U.S. SUPPORT FOR HCNM
CANDIDACY OF FORMER FM DANIEL ROTFELD

Classified By: Political Counselor Mary T. Curtin, reasons 1.4(b) and (
d)


1. (C) MFA Security Policy Director Robert Kupiecki informed
DCM on March 14 that Poland had formally nominated former
Polish Foreign (Adam) Daniel Rotfeld to the position of OSCE
High Commissioner for National Minorities (HCNM). Noting
Rotfeld's close association and cooperation with the U.S.
from his appointment as MFA U/S in 2001 to his departure from
government as Foreign Minister following the Fall 2005
parliamentary elections, Kupiecki asked DCM to convey to
Department the GOP's formal request for U.S. support of the
Rotfeld nomination.


2. (C) Throughout his tenure at MFA (starting in October
2001) and since, Daniel Rotfeld has been a very close friend
of the Embassy and the USG and a strong advocate of Poland's
active role as a U.S. ally - in Iraq, Afghanistan and
throughout the world. As Under and then Deputy Minister,
Rotfeld directly supervised the work of the Americas
Department and Security Policy Department, and with former
DepSec Armitage he chaired the first U.S.-Polish Strategic
Dialogue in September 2004. Rotfeld's biography through 2005
can be found in the Poland Biographies section of Intellink
Intellipedia. Since essentially retiring after his departure
from the Foreign Ministry in 2005, Rotfeld has served on the
boards of several think tanks and participates often and
prominently in conferences and discussions of foreign policy,
where he continues to publicly advocate strong trans-Atlantic
ties and close support for the U.S.
ASHE