AMBASSADOR ENGAGES BARROSO AND JOUYET ON IRAN,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 001149 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/25/2018 TAGS: PREL PGOV ETRD EUN IR KV FR SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR ENGAGES BARROSO AND JOUYET ON IRAN, KOSOVO, POULTRY Classified By: USEU MCPol Chris Davis, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: At her presentation of credentials on July 22, the Ambassador met successively with Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, and French State Secretary Jean Pierre Jouyet. Both somewhat deflected attempts by the Ambassador to pin the EU down to action on Iran sanctions before the end of the month. The Ambassador also pressed for early deployment of EULEX in Kosovo. While Barroso mainly deferred to the Council on Kosovo, Jouyet acknowledged its urgency. Barroso said he did his best to allow poultry imports from the U.S. That both credentials ceremonies quickly turned into very substantive discussions bodes well for progress on our agenda with the EU. A/DCM and POL chiefs accompanied the Ambassador. END SUMMARY Credentials at the Commission ¶2. (SBU) Barroso and the Ambassador agreed that U.S./EU relations are sound. Affirming that we are the EU,s most important ally, Barroso appealed for continued U.S. cooperation to face the challenges of a changing world. He particularly noted progress on climate change at the last G-8 meeting. The Ambassador said that debate in Washington whether to support a strong EU and a strong Europe ended with the current Administration, and that President Bush has been an unwavering advocate of both. Iran ¶3. (C) Turning to specifics, Barroso said he was very concerned about Iran. However, Barroso merely noted the key was to have a common position and press it with determination. (See para 13 below for Jouyet on Iran.) Balkans ¶4. (C) Raising Kosovo, the Ambassador said EULEX,s slow deployment risked squandering a period of relative calm and couldlead to a defacto partition of the country. Baroso noted that the UN shares most of the blam for the delay, averring that the Council ad the lead for the EU. He promised, however, to look into the EULEX deployment delay. ¶5. (C) Barroso noted the &good news8 concerning Radovan Karadzic,s arrest, saying the Commission was doing all it could to give the Serbs hope for a better future. Young Serbs are very pro-European, he said, adding that Serbia has more technically advanced manpower than either Slovenia or Croatia. VWP and Poultry and Containers ¶6. (SBU) Early in the conversation, the EC President noted the EU,s position for a &common participation8 by all member states in the Visa Waiver Program. Toward the end, when he asked about progress on VWP, the Ambassador answered that the President was committed to expanding VWP to as many EU Member States as possible by the end of the year. ¶7. (C) The Ambassador noted the importance of the Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC) and asked Barroso,s thoughts on how to take it forward, noting the difficulties on the issue of U.S. poultry exports to the EU. Barroso said he had spoken to President Bush on the phone about the poultry issue and was convinced of its importance. He said, however, that it was &a hell of a job8 to get especially Scandinavian countries to &lower8 their high quality standards to allow perceived lower-standard American poultry. Labeling and a review period were needed as ways to overcome member state reticence. Barroso,s decision, he explained, had been to approve the American poultry imports, based on a &no risk8 conclusion made by the independent European Food Safety Authority. Smarting from an almost unanimous rejection of his decision by member state experts, however, Barroso said the decision would now have to be made at the Council, if the Commission took it there. Insisting this was not a matter of protectionism, Barroso suggested that the U.S. &raise8 its poultry standards. ¶8. (C) The Ambassador said the TEC should be able to tackle such hard issues, which need to be discussed on the basis of sound science. She noted that Russia, taking a cue from the EU, was trying to keep out both American and European poultry, but for protectionism. Barroso agreed on the need to base decisions on science. ¶9. (C) Barroso noted complaints in Europe about the U.S. container initiative and its goal of 100 percent scanning by ¶2012. Many see it as a trade barrier, he said. The Ambassador assured him the matter was one of security, not protectionism. ¶10. (SBU) The EC President noted he would spend one week in New York and speak at Harvard in the fall. The EC finances European studies initiatives on American campuses, and he said he wanted to see how they were doing. Credentials at the Council ¶11. (C) The Ambassador then presented credentials to Jean-Pierre Jouyet, the French State Secretary for European Affairs, who represented the French presidency of the EU Council. Speaking in French through an interpreter (but listening in English),Jouyet said he looked forward to reinforcing U.S./EU dialogue on crisis management, Middle BRUSSELS 00001149 002 OF 002 East, Iran, and relations with China. The Ambassador said that President Bush supported a strong, positive relation with Europe and assured Jouyet that either presidential candidate would very likely continue along the same lines. She then added climate change, development, and Kosovo to our list of priorities. ¶12. (C) On Kosovo, the Ambassador said it was important for EULEX to deploy soon to all of Kosovo. Further delay, she said, would embolden the radicals. Jouyet said the Council was not deterred by intimidation on the ground, which he said amounted to mere blackmail, and wanted to deploy as quickly as possible. ¶13. (C) On Iran, Jouyet said the EU wanted to move on UNSCR 1803 sanctions as rapidly as &procedures8 would allow, and he mentioned the coming COREPER discussion on enhanced vigilance. He noted that sanctions were having an impact in Tehran among the middle class. Pressing for action by the end of July, the Ambassador said U.S./EU unity is essential and others will look to the EU,s interpretation of 1803 in crafting their own sanctions. She reiterated our view that sanctions are having a concrete impact on the Iranian government,s ability to pursue its nuclear program. ¶14. (C) Finally, Jouyet raised the French presidency,s role in hosting summits with large &emerging8 states, such as South Africa, Korea, Ukraine and Brazil. He specifically mentioned moving toward an Association Agreement with Ukraine, which would specifically address monetary, commercial and copyright questions. Comment ¶15. (C) The Ambassador,s relations with the Council and the Commission are off to an excellent start, in keeping with the positive and productive tenor of the U.S./EU dialogue overall. Our priorities resound within the EU, and Iran and Kosovo in particular are viewed with urgency, which we hope will not be thwarted by the August vacation hiatus. On the matter of poultry, it was reassuring to hear the EC President,s position in favor of sound science. We will need to strategize whether the Transatlantic Economic Council or, after what would be a likely Council rejection of U.S. poultry imports, the World Trade Organization is the preferred next step. SILVERBERG .