GREECE TO JOIN PIRACY CONTACT GROUP

C O N F I D E N T I A L ATHENS 001667 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/11/2018 TAGS: MOPS PBTS PHSA PTER UNSC EUN SO GR SUBJECT: GREECE TO JOIN PIRACY CONTACT GROUP REF: A. STATE 129941 ¶B. STATE 129528 ¶C. ATHENS 1640 ¶D. STATE 126055 Classified By: A/Political Counselor Jeffrey Hovenier for reasons 1.4(b ) and (d). ¶1. (C) Summary and Comment: Greece is willing to increase its already active role in international efforts to combat piracy off the Horn of Africa. Greece informed us December 12 that it would become a founding member of our proposed contact group on piracy, and recommended that the UN urge all states to enact domestic legislation allowing them to try pirates. The GOG is interested in Deputy Defense Minister Tassoulas making short remarks at the December 16 UN Security Council ministerial open debate on piracy. End Summary and Comment. ¶2. (SBU) We briefed Greek MFA D1 Directorate (UN and International Organization Affairs) Counselor Dimitrios Papandreou December 11 on the U.S. proposal for creating a contact group on piracy in the Horn of Africa (ref A). Papandreou informed us December 12 that Greece would be pleased to be a founding member of this contact group. He also said Deputy Defense Minister Costas Tassoulas wishes to make a short address to the UN Security Council ministerial open debate on piracy on December 16. It is our understanding that although Greece is not a member of the Security Council, any UN member can address the Security Council in an open debate. ¶3. (SBU) Responding to our earlier request for Greek recommendations on steps to deal with piracy (ref C),MFA legal advisor Fanny Livada proposed to us on December 12 an additional operative paragraph for the draft UN Security Council Resolution on piracy (ref B). The proposed addition would read "Calls on all states to adopt the necessary domestic legislation attributing jurisdiction to their judicial authorities and courts enabling them to prosecute and try individuals engaged in piracy." Livada said handling these cases through domestic courts would be simpler than creating an ad hoc tribunal, and recent experience including a case in which Denmark had to release pirates showed that many countries did not have relevant legislation giving them "universal jurisdiction" over acts of piracy. She said that if only some countries had this legislation -- as Greece and Germany now do -- an undue burden could fall on those countries to detain and try pirates. ¶4. (SBU) As noted in ref C, the Greeks are currently providing one Navy frigate to NATO's Standing NRF Maritime Group 2 (SNMG-2),which is operating off the coast of Somalia under a UN mandate. The Greeks will also be a key member of the forthcoming European Defense and Security Policy (EDSP) counter-piracy operation, dubbed Operation Atalanta. The Greeks will provide both a frigate and the operation's tactical commander, Commodore Antonis Papaioannou, who will serve under the overall command of a British admiral based near London. The Greek-sponsored NATO Maritime Interdiction Operational Training Center (NMIOTC) now has counter-piracy training in its syllabus and VADM Karamalikis, Chief of Hellenic Navy, wants all future SNMG ships to receive counter-piracy training at the center. SPECKHARD