BELGIUM: DEMARCHE DELIVERED ON HELSINKI OSCE

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRUSSELS 001826 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/01/2018 TAGS: OSCE PREL PHUM KDEM GG RU BE SUBJECT: BELGIUM: DEMARCHE DELIVERED ON HELSINKI OSCE MINISTERIAL REF: STATE 125626 Classified By: P/E COUNSELOR RICHARD EASON, E.O. 12958, reasons 1.4 (b) (d) ¶1. (U) Emboff delivered reftel points on the upcoming Helsinki OSCE Ministerial on December 1 to Mr. Thierry Vuylsteke, the Ministry of Foreign Affair's Director of its OSCE Department. ¶2. (C) Vuylsteke, who has followed OSCE issues since 2001 and will be part of Belgium's approximately 15-person delegation to Helsinki, agreed with many of the reftel points, but highlighted several differences: DECLARATION: Vuylsteke believes the Ministerial needs a Declaration, especially given the lack of one for several years, not at any cost, but one that is short, future-oriented, and responds to Russian President Medvedev on European security, signaling the West's willingness to discuss European security based on the solid 'acquis' of the OSCE. He felt that a strong statement was possible that would in no way signal that existing commitments were open to reinterpretation or readjustment. He does not see how a statement can include language on the conflict between Russia and Georgia, given the need for consensus: one or the other will oppose. Vuylsteke suggested regional declarations on Georgia and Nagorno Karabakh, with a Ministerial statement putting the OSCE "back in the center of the security debate." He felt a statement was necessary to reanimate the OSCE, whose relevancy he felt had suffered in recent years. EUROPEAN SECURITY TREATY: Vuylsteke saw President Sarkozy's call for a Summit, and Medvedev's Security Treaty Proposal, as a way forward to dealing with Russia's concerns, as long as Russia understood that the OSCE's position would rest firmly and absolutely on the 'acquis.' While he understood the irony of Medvedev's call following the invasion of Georgia, he pointed out that Russia had been making similar calls to reexamine European security for several years. He also alluded to Georgian president Saakashvili's not being faultless last summer, by stepping over what he called Russian "redlines." He said it was necessary to start a new dialogue with Russia. While he agreed that Russia needed to show its good faith (in resuming implementation of the CFE Treaty and providing access to monitors in South Ossetia and Abkhazia --something the OSCE has insisted upon, he pointed out),he also said it was important for the OSCE to show its good faith by listening to Russia's concerns about its security. He said signaling a willingness to meet to discuss European security with Russia would be an important gesture. GEORGIA: Vuylsteke agreed with the USG points in reftel, adding that he thought the Georgia-Russia conflict, and South Ossetia and Abkhazia, could be a problem for years, like Cyprus. CFE and Other Issues: CFE: Vuylsteke said Russia sees the CFE as not helping its security, and said several times that the CFE "doesn't work anymore," and thus the CFE would need to be rebuilt/adapted, as it has been in the past. It was time to make a better agreement for the future, one that would "get the Russians on board." The first step would be to generate good analysis by EU members and NATO members. While he agreed that it was true that the CFE has been the most successful arms control treaty of its kind in the reduction of conventional forces it has engendered, he also said it recently has not been successful in that it has not given a sense of security to all members, specifically not to the Russians. Small Arms/Light Weapons: Vulysteke said Belgium was very active in this area. He described Small Arms as "weapons of mass destruction" in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. FOX .