Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08BRUSSELS959
2008-06-24 16:47:00
CONFIDENTIAL//NOFORN
USEU Brussels
Cable title:  

EU COUNCIL MEETING WRAP UP

Tags:  PREL PGOV EU 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO2337
RR RUEHAG RUEHROV
DE RUEHBS #0959/01 1761647
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 241647Z JUN 08
FM USEU BRUSSELS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUEHUB/USINT HAVANA
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BRUSSELS 000959 

NOFORN
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/24/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV EU
SUBJECT: EU COUNCIL MEETING WRAP UP

REF: USEU-TODAY JUNE 20 AND 23

Classified By: Deputy Political Minister Counselor Alyce Tidball for re
asons 1.4 (b) and (d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BRUSSELS 000959

NOFORN
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/24/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV EU
SUBJECT: EU COUNCIL MEETING WRAP UP

REF: USEU-TODAY JUNE 20 AND 23

Classified By: Deputy Political Minister Counselor Alyce Tidball for re
asons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) SUMMARY. The June 19-20 European Union Council
Meeting of Member State Foreign Ministers in Brussels
deliberated at length on next steps regarding the Lisbon
Treaty following the Irish "no" vote, agreeing that more time
was needed to analyze the situation. The Council also
discussed the Western Balkans and agreed to lift EU sanctions
on Cuba. The Council addressed short and long term remedies
to combat rising food and oil prices. END SUMMARY


2. (SBU) FATE OF LISBON TREATY REMAINS UNCERTAIN
EU leaders ended their two-day European Council meeting on
June 20 with no clear answer on how to solve the problem
created by the Irish rejection of the Lisbon Treaty. "The
European Council agreed that more time was needed to analyze
the situation. The Irish government will actively consult,
both internally and with other Member States, in order to
suggest a common way forward," according to the Summit's
conclusions. Irish PM Cowen told his post-Summit press
conference a number of EU colleagues made it clear they had
"no interest" in renegotiating the treaty. Cowen, who will
report back to colleagues in October following his
consultations, would not speculate when he would be in a
position to come forward with suggestions on the way forward,
adding: "I can't say whether there will be any further
referendums on this issue." The leaders noted that the
ratification process "continues in other countries," although
the Czech Republic, where the treaty of Lisbon is currently
under scrutiny by the country's Constitutional Court, secured
a special "footnote" reference" to its specific situation.
The meeting revealed clear differences among leaders over how
to proceed with further enlargement in case the Lisbon Treaty
does not enter into force. Some leaders, including France's
upcoming President-in-office of the European Council Sarkozy,
told media that without the Lisbon Treaty the EU will not be
able to admit new Member States in the future. French perm
rep contacts told USEU that while Sarkozy has said the same
thing in the past, the Irish "no" adds a new significance to

his words.


3. (SBU) At a lengthy Thursday night heads of state dinner,
the atmosphere was initially optimistic, buoyed in part by
the fact that UK PM Brown came to Brussels with British
ratification in his pocket. Nevertheless, the Czechs
reportedly strongly pposed conclusion language that would
have caled for early ratification of the treaty by the
remaining member states. The result was a relatively short
and weak text, noting only that many countries have already
ratified the treaty but not specifically calling on the
remaining countries to do so. Still, the political
consensus coalesced around the perception that, although
Ireland would require help and should not be "jammed", the
issue was how to help the Irish find a way to ratify, rather
than whether the treaty should be rewritten. Nevertheless,
contacts say the treaty will clearly not be ready by January
1, and the EU will be consumed over the next few months
trying to find a legal mechanism. The October heads of state
meeting is already targeted as a key discussion in that
regard. For the moment, the focus is on unity and
solidarity, rather than pressure, with Slovenian PM/European
Council chair Janez Jansa told a press conference June 20
that the leaders "won't set deadlines" for Ireland. Although
Jansa reported a sense of "unity" around the European Council
dinner, other leaders hinted the EU could not afford delaying
its response to the Irish vote for too long. Danish PM
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, for instance, warned earlier in the
day that there was effectively a deadline for the EU-27 to
ratify the treaty by April 1, 2009 before the June 2009
elections to the European Parliament. Outside the meeting,
French President Sarkozy took aim at Trade Commissioner
Mandelson, telling the press that Mandelson's trade policies
were a factor in the Irish no vote. This was quickly rebutted
in the corridors by the UK.


EU-CUBA SANCTIONS LIFTED; COUNCIL CONCLUSIONS STRENGTHENED
DUE TO GERMAN LOBBYING

4. (U) Agreement to lift EU sanctions on Cuba was reached at
the Council meeting, but officially adopted at the
Agriculture and Fisheries Council meeting in Luxembourg on
June 23. The conclusions call on the "Cuban Government to
improve effectively the human rights situation by, inter
alia, releasing unconditionally all political prisoners,
including those who were detained in 2003." It also calls on
the Cuban Government to "facilitate access of international
humanitarian organizations to Cuban prisons." The
conclusions state that the EU will evaluate the effectiveness

BRUSSELS 00000959 002 OF 003


of their dialogue with Cuba in June 2009, and will continue
dialogue if the Council decides that it is effective.


5. (C) Sources in the German and Czech missions told us that
the deal on lifting EU sanctions on Cuba was done prior to
the June 19 Foreign Ministers dinner on the margins of the
June 19-20 Council meeting. Both the Czechs and Germans told
us that the last minute German push resulted in a significant
strengthening of language relating to the Council,s review
next year of the proposed EU-Cuba dialogue. The Germans
called for the line in the conclusions on release of
political prisoners, and specifies that progress on that
issue is one of the requirements for the Council to renew the
dialogue when it is reviewed in a year's time. This
language is in the public conclusions rather than in the
private minutes (as the Spanish had desired). The Czech
mission seemed very pleased with the results and credited
effective German lobbying for producing results.

WESTERN BALKANS

6. (U) Heads of State agreed an extensive set of
conclusions on the Western Balkans reiterating support for
the region's European perspective. The Council committed to
leadership to ensure Kosovo's stability, noted plans to
deploy EULEX throughout all of Kosovo, and welcomed the UN
Secretary General's report outlining his intention to
reconfigure UNMIK. Leaders also welcomed the signature of
the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with
Bosnia, looked forward to a new government in Belgrade to
promote reform, and reiterated Serbia's ability to push
forward with its accession pending full cooperation with
ICTY.


7. (C//NF) While most of the conclusions were agreed
without much debate, discussions on the language for
Macedonia were especially heated, according to member state
contacts. In addition to reiterating previously stated
conditions for Macedonia's progress in the accession process,
leaders also acquiesced to Greek demands to include a
statement underscoring that, "maintaining good neighborly
relations, including a negotiated and mutually acceptable
solution on the name issue remains essential," despite
Slovenian Presidency efforts to avoid mention of the
bilateral issue. An Italian interlocutor said that the text
was carefully worded with input from Commissioner Rehn to
leave the door open for the Commission to make a favorable
recommendation on setting a date for Macedonia at the end of
the year, regardless of the status of the name negotiations.
He privately admitted, however, that the explicit linkage
between the name resolution and accession creates a de facto
additional condition on Macedonia's accession. Our contact
added that member states have grown skeptical that Macedonia
is capable of quickly meeting the necessary benchmarks for EU
accession as a result of Skpoje's decision to call early
elections as well as the subsequent violent incidents on June

1. These increased doubts may have translated into less
resistance to the Greek position.

RISING FOOD AND OIL PRICES

8. (U) EU leaders stressed that despite the new
institutional problems presented by the Irish rejection of
the Lisbon Treaty, the Council is still able to function and
demonstrated this by addressing important issues such as
rising food and oil prices. Noting that 16% of the EU
population lies at or below the poverty line and that oil
prices have increased by 500% over the past six years, Jansa
asserted that although EU policies are not the cause for
these increases, they can be part of the solution. Stressing
the need for EU unity, Jansa outlined a two-phase approach to
address the issue. The first phase will focus upon immediate
alleviation of consequences of the EU public by clarifying
that Member State governments are free to adopt assistance
measures for the worst-affected sectors in their countries,
as long as those measures are short-term and narrowly
focused. At the same time, the Commission will implement
reforms and programs to complement national government
actions. The second phase will focus upon long-term measures
designed to increase energy efficiency and diversity and
reduce dependency on external energy sources, especially
fossil fuels. Jansa noted that the EU must encourage the
development of new technologies to decrease dependency and
combat climate change.


9. (U) European Commission President Jose Barroso outlined
four specific proposals that the Commission presented to the
Council to address rising food and oil prices:

- A revamped food aid program to provide food aid to the most
vulnerable EU citizens.

- Emergency measures to help fishermen while the EU

BRUSSELS 00000959 003 OF 003


restructures the fishing industry.

- Assistance to agricultural sectors in developing countries
to increase production and thereby lower world food prices.

- Measures to increase competition and transparency within
oil and gas markets.


Barroso emphasized that there is no quick fix to the current
food and oil price dilemma, but that these are structural
issues that will require long-term structural solutions.

Chase
.