GERMAN VIEWS ON THE DECEMBER 8-9 EU GAERC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BERLIN 001628

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/05/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV EUN ZL RS IS TU GM
SUBJECT: GERMAN VIEWS ON THE DECEMBER 8-9 EU GAERC

REF: A. STATE 127023

B. SARAJEVO 1832

C. BERLIN 1548

Classified By: DEPUTY POLITICAL MINISTER COUNSELOR STAN OTTO. REASONS:
1.4 (B) AND (D).


1. (C) SUMMARY. Germany says it is "completely in line" with
the U.S. on the way forward in Bosnia, while acknowledging a
few "nuances" regarding the conditions for the transition to
a EU Special Representative. The discussion of EU
enlargement at the December 8-9 GAERC will focus on the
Western Balkans, reflecting how distant Turkey's prospects
appear at the moment. Germany continues to strongly oppose
deploying an EU force to eastern DRC, and believes that even
France and Belgium have given up pursuing the idea for now.
The EU foreign ministers will announce the EU's interest in
intensifying relations with Pakistan and toward that end, the
EU Troika foreign ministers are scheduled to visit Islamabad
soon to offer enhanced cooperation in a number of areas.
Contrary to the original intentions of the French EU
Presidency, the 2003 EU Security Strategy will not be changed
or updated. Germany prevailed in its view that opening up
the Security Strategy to revision could cause "the whole
thing to fall apart." On Israeli-Palestinian peace, the
GAERC conclusions will not include a planned reference to the
EU Action Plan for the Middle East, supposedly at the request
of Israeli FM Livni. END SUMMARY.

INTERLOCUTORS


2. (U) Post delivered an advance copy of ref A points
regarding the EU's December 8-9 General Affairs and External
Relations Council (GAERC) meeting to MFA Deputy European
Correspondent Thomas Schieb November 28 and followed up with
him December 5. Post also spoke separately with MFA Deputy
Chief of the Near East Office Sibylle Sorg December 3
regarding the points on Israeli-Palestinian Peace.

BOSNIA


3. (C) Schieb said Germany was "completely in line" with the
United States on the way forward, although he did acknowledge
that the November 19-20 Peace Implementation Council (PIC)
had highlighted a few small "nuances" regarding transition to
an EU Special Representative. (NOTE: Ref B reports that
Germany was among a handful of countries that suggested at
the November 19-20 PIC that they might support transition to
a EUSR at the next PIC meeting in March 2009 even if the
five-plus-two agenda is not met.) Drawing on ref A, Post
emphasized that the U.S. would not support closure of the
Office of the High Representative (OHC) and agree to the
transition to the EUSR at that PIC meeting unless the
5-plus-2 conditions and objectives had been met in full.

EU ENLARGEMENT


4. (C) Schieb said he did not expect a long Council
discussion of the EU Commission progress reports on the EU
candidate countries. The Council conclusions will focus
primarily on the Western Balkans and may not even mention
Turkey. Schieb took note of our points strongly supporting
Turkey's candidacy, but said the country still remains a long
way from membership, given the continued ambivalence on the
part of many EU members states and Turkey's own domestic
political turmoil.

KOSOVO


5. (U) Schieb said the Council conclusions would welcome the
beginning of EULEX's initial operating capability (IOC) on
December 9.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO


6. (C) Schieb said Germany agreed with all the U.S. points,
except for the last one, calling for the formation of a
European multinational force to work alongside MONUC to
reestablish peace and security in the eastern DRC. Germany
continued to oppose the idea, believing that it would provide
very little added value to an already substantial MONUC force
and would risk drawing the EU into the conflict. He noted
that Belgium had recently raised the idea of the EU sending
an interim force, but had since dropped it after getting no
traction.


7. (C) Even if it did not have to provide troops itself,

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Schieb said that Germany would still find such an EU mission
objectionable because of the commonly funded costs involved.
Schieb thought the idea of an EU force was dead for now and
would not be discussed at this GAERC. Schieb noted, however,
that the EU is already present in the DRC in the form of two
small ESDP missions -- one for training police (EUPOL) and
the other supporting security sector reform (EUSEC). He also
noted that the Council conclusions would announce 45.6
million Euros in new EU humanitarian assistance.

PAKISTAN


8. (C) Schieb said the Council conclusions would announce the
EU's interest in intensifying relations with Pakistan.
Toward that end, the EU Troika foreign ministers are
scheduled to visit Islamabad "in the next couple of days" to
offer enhanced cooperation in a number of areas, including
trade, intercultural exchange, nonproliferation and
counterterrorism. Schieb said Germany continued to be open
to the idea of contributing to an international trust fund
for the FATA and NW Frontier Province, but asked again for
more detailed information about how the fund would work (ref
C).

EUROPEAN SECURITY STRATEGY


9. (C) Schieb noted that given that this is the last GAERC of
the French EU Presidency, the Council would adopt a number of
ESDP documents, including a declaration on strengthening ESDP
capabilities, which will "slightly increase" the EU's level
of ambition. EU HiRep Solana's report on the 2003 EU
Security Strategy will also be noted, but the Strategy itself
will not be changed and updated, contrary to earlier French
intentions.


10. (C) Schieb said that Germany had prevailed in its view
that opening up the EU Strategy to revision could cause "the
whole thing to fall apart" as each member state sought to
make changes. Germany favored keeping the strategy general
and therefore a more enduring document. It thought the 2003
Strategy remained largely valid although, as Solana had
pointed out in his report, climate change and energy security
should now be higher on the agenda. Schieb also conceded
that Germany had wanted to avoid opening up the Strategy
document for fear of unleashing a protracted debate over
Russia and the implications of the August war in Georgia.

ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN PEACE


11. (C) Schieb confirmed that there would be Council
conclusions on Israeli-Palestinian peace. He revealed,
however, that at the request of Israeli FM Livni, the EU
Action Plan for the Middle East will not be mentioned as
originally planned, apparently because of the lack of any
balancing news to report on the intensification of EU-Israeli
relations.


12. (C) MFA Deputy Near East Office Chief Sorg agreed with
the need to respect the ongoing negotiations between Israel
and the Palestinians, adding that next steps in the peace
process should be addressed when the new U.S. Administration
is in place and after the Israeli elections. Regarding
security and other institutional assistance to the
Palestinian Authority, Sorg noted that the Netherlands and
the UK will be responsible for implementing the projects that
have come out of Germany,s June 2008 Palestinian civilian
security assistance conference. She noted that Germany will
also be providing justice sector and police assistance as
party of its bilateral program.
Koenig