GREEK PARLIAMENT'S STEFANOU ON TGI, SOUTH STREAM,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ATHENS 000996 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/14/2018 TAGS: ENRG GR PGOV PREL RS CVIS KCRM EU EPET SUBJECT: GREEK PARLIAMENT'S STEFANOU ON TGI, SOUTH STREAM, SIOUFAS TRIP TO RUSSIA, MLAT AND HSPD-6 Classified By: A/DCM Clark Price for 1.4 (b) and (d) -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) In a meeting on July 10, the Secretary General of Parliament, Nikos Stefanou, voiced his support for the TGI pipeline and confirmed the GoG,s strong support for this project. At the same time, he expressed skepticism on South Stream, implying there is no concrete plan in place for its development. Speaking on Greek Parliament President Dimitris Sioufas, late-June trip to Russia, Stefanou noted the Russians went out of their way to make the Greek delegation feel at home, including by scheduling an out of the blue meeting with former President Putin. On other issues, Stefanou told the Acting DCM and the Acting Political and Economic Counselors that we can count on Parliamentary ratification of the U.S/EU Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) and Extradition Treaty this summer. Finally, Stefanou promised that he will advise President Sioufas of the need for quick Parliamentary authorization for the GOG to conclude the U.S./Greece HSPD-6 Agreement, once final agreement on the text is reached. End Summary. -------------- -------------- TGI: GoG in Position to be &First out of the Gate8 -------------- -------------- ¶2. (C) A/DCM gave Stefanou a quick update on TGI, indicating he thought the project was well advanced with a well-defined consumer in Edison and a planned transit route through Greece. A/DCM indicated that once the Azerbaijani-Turkish transit dispute was resolved, Greece is set up to be the &first out of the gate8 with TGI supplying the first Azerbaijani gas to Europe. A/DCM emphasized, however, that it was critical now more than ever to continue to underline to the Azerbaijanis strong GoG support for the TGI through visits and vocal public statemens. Finally, A/DCM stressed the key role to be played by private sector Greek power produers in securing Azerbaijani gas supply for the reek market. ¶3. (C) Stefanou concurred tht TGI was a secure, mature project. Most imprtantly, Stefanou said, Prime Minister Karamalis wants it to go forward in order to place Greece in the position of connecting Asia and Europe. On the other hand, Stefanou claimed not to be optimistic about South Stream. He believes that the GoG opened up the game on South Stream, but has no idea how to finish it, implying that details on the pipeline remain vague and uncertain. -------------- Russia: You are Most Welcome! -------------- ¶4. (C) Turning to his and President Sioufas, 29-30 June trip to Russia, Stefanou indicated that they were acting on a year-old invitation from the Russian Duma. Stefanou,s overall impressions of the visit and the meetings were that the Russian government went out of its way to make the Greek Parliamentary delegation feel at home. He and Sioufas met with, among others, former President Putin, Minister of Trade and Industry Victor Christenko, and Chairman of the Duma Gryzlov. Stefanou indicated they were caught off guard by the meeting with Putin, whose office contacted Sioufas out of the blue soon after his arrival in Moscow and requested a meeting. Stefanou described the encounter as the typical official meeting, but said that it was clear to him that Putin still wielded much respect and power. Immediately before his meeting with Sioufas, according to Stefanou, Putin had met with the U.S. Ambassador to Russia. The Greek Parliamentary delegation did not meet with Russian president Medvedev. (Note: We understand that the Kremlin has tended to follow a strict policy of foreign legislators meeting only with t Sioufas got such high-level attention is another indication of closer G2eek-Russian relations. End Note) -------------- U.S./EU MLAT and Extradition Treaties and HSPD-6: Swift Action Promised -------------- ¶5. (C) A/PolCouns briefed Stefanou on the U.S./EU MLAT and Extradition Treaties and the bilateral HSPD-6 issues, which both soon will be on the Greek Parliament,s agenda. On the U.S./EU MLAT and Extradition Treaties, A/PolCouns indicated that Greece was one of a very small number of EU states that had not yet ratified these instruments. Given that they had been concluded during the Greek EU Presidency, A/PolCouns urged that Parliamentary review be expedited. Stefanou was well briefed on the subject and emphatically stated that the Embassy can count on him, and that Parliament would ratify the U.S./EU instruments during this summer's session. On HSPD-6, A/PolCouns told Stefanou that Minister of Foreign Affairs Bakoyannis has advised Ambassador Speckhard that Parliamentary approval will be necessary for the MFA to sign the HSPD-6 agreement on behalf of the GoG, and that she has pledged that this will be obtained quickly during Parliament,s summer session. A/PolCouns noted that the U.S. and Greece have not yet agreed on a final text, but that we are likely close, and Parliamentary action would be necessary quite soon. Stefanou responded that he would brief Sioufas on the issue, and that he was certain Sioufas would coordinate with FM Bakoyannis to move this document quickly through the Parliamentary approval process. He noted, however, that even the Greek summer legislative session (which is comprised of 50 of the 300 MPs who have authority to review/approve urgent matters) will not work August 1 - 25, and that "no business" will be concluded during that time. -------------- Visit to DC? -------------- ¶6. (C) During the meeting, Stefanou indicated that President Sioufas would like to visit Congress this fall. While A/DCM noted that the Embassy strongly supports such a visit, we cautioned Stefanou that this fall may not be an optimal time for such a visit, as we anticipate a short fall session of Congress due to the election. We suggested that a better time would be following the election and once the new Congress has been seated in early 2009. Stefanou seemed open to this idea, and we will continue to encourage this timing, as we want to ensure that when he does come, we are able to receive him and any accompanying delegation appropriately, as he has been an important and positive contact on a wide range of issues of mutual interest, including energy policy. SPECKHARD