PORTUGAL: BUILDING ON ARAB LEAGUE EFFORTS IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L LISBON 001205 SIPDIS C O R R E C T E D C O P Y (Text Paragraph 1) E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/20/2018 TAGS: PREL LE SY IR PO SUBJECT: PORTUGAL: BUILDING ON ARAB LEAGUE EFFORTS IN LEBANON REF: STATE 52061 Classified By: Ambassador Thomas Stephenson for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D) . ¶1. (C) Ambassador delivered reftel points on May 19 to Foreign Minister Amado. Amado said he shared our concerns about Lebanon and was watching developments there closely. He said Lebanon would be on the agenda when EU Foreign Ministers gather at the General Affairs and External Relations Council May 26 and 27. When the Ambassador stressed that Iran and Syria are contributing to Lebanon's instability, Amado agreed, saying "we are on the same page there." However, Amado added his view that "we need to continue to talk to Syria." ¶2. (C) Comment: Amado had just returned from a trip to Latin America with his Prime Minister and was clearly exhausted. He thus did not engage as actively as he normally does, and his answers were unusually terse. Nonetheless, he seemed to hear and absorb our points. Amado was in Beirut last year, and Portugal's deployment of an engineering company as part of UNIFIL ensures the GOP -- and Amado personally -- care very much what happens on the ground. It is unlikely, however, that Portugal will issue any statements -- nor list Hezbollah as a terrorist entity -- without close coordination with other EU member states. Amado has been supportive in the past of efforts to turn up the heat on Iran, which he has described to us as the greatest global threat, but he shares the view of many of his EU counterparts that engaging Syria is a better approach than isolating it. Stephenson