PORTUGAL FUMBLES ITS COMMUNITY OF DEMOCRACIES'

C O N F I D E N T I A L LISBON 002718

SIPDIS

STATE FOR G, DRL, EUR/WE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/19/2018
TAGS: KDEM PREL PO
SUBJECT: PORTUGAL FUMBLES ITS COMMUNITY OF DEMOCRACIES'
CHAIRMANSHIP

REF: A. STATE 104493

B. LISBON 2698

C. LISBON 2589

Classified By: Dana M. Brown, Pol-Econ Officer, Embassy Lisbon
Reason 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary and comment: Portugal holds the 2007-2009
Chair for the Community of Democracies (CD) Convening Group,
but its performance has been disappointing from the start.
Portuguese MFA contacts offered us an overview of their
leadership agenda for the Community of Democracies in 2009.
MFA Deputy DG Antonio Ricoca Freire told us that it was
unlikely that the GOP would coordinate anything more in 2008
on CD issues, but rather planned to carry out a concentrated
burst of activity in the six months leading up to the July
2009 Lisbon CD Ministerial. Portugal aims to host one or two
meetings with working group nations before the July event and
seeks to staff the CD Secretariat part time by sending an
additional staff member to the Portuguese embassy in Warsaw.
We reassured Ricoca Freire that the Community will be
important to the incoming U.S. administration. We believe
Portugal has lost the focus and ambition it had when it
offered to host the CD chairmanship and is now hoping to wrap
up its term without expending much effort. End summary and
comment.

Work to Start Next Year?
--------------


2. (SBU) As a follow-up to U/S Dobriansky's meeting with
Portuguese Secretary of State Joao Cravinho on Portugal's
Community of Democracies (CD) leadership on the margins of
UNGA (ref A),we met with MFA officials on October 30 to
discuss Portugal's plans for the remainder of its 18-month CD
leadership that will end in July 2009. Pol-Econ officer
urged MFA's Antonio Ricoca Freire and Cravinho's Diplomatic
Advisor Pedro Courela to appoint a CD coordinator quickly, to
engage the working groups and to confirm the date for the
Lisbon Ministerial that will conclude Portugal's CD
leadership. Ricoca Freire reported that he would stay on
until January since there was nobody to replace him, and he
dismissed the idea of having the Portuguese embassy in
Washington coordinate CD tasks because they "were not in the
proper position to serve as a liaison." He added that the
GOP would probably not convene a CD meeting before January
due to the holidays and other priorities. Ricoca Freire
reiterated his view that the working group structure was
"stagnant" and needed to be revived after a group discussion.
He suggested that January's meeting be an open discussion to
decide what the CD wanted its working groups to tackle and
said the newly-established working groups would have until
May to finish their work.

Reduced Ministerial Expectations
--------------


3. (SBU) Turning to the Lisbon Ministerial, Ricoca Freire
declared that it would take place in late July because "all
other months are impossible." He explained that national
Portuguese elections in October, the inauguration ceremony in
November, and vacation plans in August blocked off several
months in 2009. He stressed that the MFA did not plan to
make the Lisbon event into a summit, as has been done in the
past, because in the end only ministers attended the Bamako
meeting in 2007. The Portuguese MFA does not want the
Portuguese President or Prime Minister to be the only senior
attendee, he said. He added that the July ministerial will
showcase the new Geremech Award and promote pro-democracy
ideas, but he stressed that the GOP did not want to
"pre-cook" conclusions in a cleared text before the meeting.
Portugal will pass the leadership mantle to Lithuania at the
ministerial in July and will thus curtail its leadership from
two years down to 18 months.

Lack of Coordination with Secretariat
--------------


4. (SBU) Ricoca Freire acknowledged that the Portuguese had
not had much contact with the new CD Secretariat based in
Warsaw and promised that would change. His office requested
an additional person for the Portuguese embassy in Warsaw to
support the CD Secretariat part-time until July. He
predicted that the position would be approved by the end of
2008 and the person could start working early next year.

Struggling to find Consensus Reaction
--------------


5. (SBU) Portugal recognizes that it has been largely
unsuccessful in coordinating CD statements on several
democracy crises this year. Ricoca Freire mentioned that
statements on Zimbabwe and Bangladesh were both blocked by
Convening Group nations, leaving the texts as gently chiding
when original text strongly denounced anti-democratic
practices. Ricoca Freire suggested that, rather than having
the leadership troika issue statements on behalf of the
Convening Group as USG officials suggested in New York, the
CD should only issue leadership statements as a last resort.
While he said the GOP would not reject the possibility
entirely, he emphasized his hope that it would not be
necessary for Portugal to issue statements without group
consensus.


6. (SBU) Previewing Portuguese Foreign Minister Amado's
question to the Ambassador (ref B),Ricoca Freire asked
whether the Community of Democracies would be important to
the incoming U.S. administration. Specifically, he
questioned whether the next Under Secretary for Global
Affairs would make it a priority and encourage greater
participation. We stressed that democracy is a top priority
in U.S. foreign policy, regardless of the administration, but
Ricoca Freire implied that Portugal would not focus much
attention on the Community of Democracies absent a strong
push from Washington.

Leadership Lacks Focus, Energy, and Direction
--------------


7. (C) Comment: Two-thirds of the way through its 18-month
chairmanship Portugal has accomplished nothing to date, and
Ricoca Freire offers ever-weaker assurances that the GOP's CD
leadership will begin soon. Meanwhile, senior officials such
as FM Amado and Cravinho have admitted candidly that the
Community of Democracies is not a priority for the GOP. Over
the last year, we have raised the CD issue on numerous
occasions and pushed the GOP to select a coordinator and
begin concrete work immediately, but the GOP's lackluster
responses indicate that Portugal will not assume the
leadership that we envisioned without significant pushing on
our part, if at all. The CD leadership role probably
conceptually appealed to the Portuguese a decade ago when it
offered to lead the group, but the GOP has lost its focus and
ambitions on the issue in the meantime. End comment.
STEPHENSON