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

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