GERMANY WORKING WITHIN EU FOR DEMARCHE ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L BERLIN 001254 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/12/2018 TAGS: MOPS PREL GC NU RU SUBJECT: GERMANY WORKING WITHIN EU FOR DEMARCHE ON NICARAGUAN RECOGNITION OF SOUTH OSSETIA AND ABKHAZIA REF: SECSTATE 96677 Classified By: POLITICAL DEPUTY MINISTER COUNSELOR STAN OTTO FOR REASON S: 1.4 (B) AND (D) ¶1. (C) On 12 September 2008, POLOFFs delivered reftel demarche to Christiane Botschen, Deputy Director for Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean at the German Foreign Office. Botschen informed POLOFFs that Germany and the EU shared the same concerns as the United States about Nicaragua's recent recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and were planning to deliver a Troika level demarche to the Nicaraguan Government in Managua. The demarche is being prepared in Brussels by the EU working group on Latin America and the Caribbean, and is expected to be delivered following their next meeting on 16 September. Botschen added that the EU is also considering a less formal, discreet demarche to other Latin America states, possibly Bolivia and Venezuela, whom they suspect may also recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Botschen admitted that while Nicaragua's recognition is "unacceptable" to the EU and Germany, there is little the EU could do to make President Daniel Ortega reverse his position. TIMKEN JR