DEMARCHE DELIVERED TO SPAIN REGARDING NATO

C O N F I D E N T I A L MADRID 000933

SIPDIS

EUR/PRM (PETER CHISHOLM, LAURA LUCAS),USNATO (ALEJANDRO
BAEZ AND JEFFREY WORKMAN, USEU (APAR SIDHU)

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/26/2018
TAGS: EUN NATO PREL
SUBJECT: DEMARCHE DELIVERED TO SPAIN REGARDING NATO
COUNTER-PIRACY DISCUSSION

REF: A. STATE 91387

B. MADRID 685

Classified By: DCM Arnold Chacon for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Polcouns and Pol-Mil officer met August 26 with
Spanish MOD Deputy Director General for Defense Policy
Brigadier General Jose Munoz Castresana, advising him that
USNATO planned to raise the piracy issue in the August 27
NAC, asking the NAC to task the NMA,s with reviewing
possible NATO responses to piracy in the Horn of Africa.
Polcouns stressed the need for transparency and coordination
given possible Spanish, ESPD, and NATO responses as well as
the U.S. preference for defining its potential interaction
with the EU on defense and security matters in and through
NATO.


2. (C) Munoz Castresana said Spain,s interest was in
mounting a response to the pirate threat as soon as possible
(he noted the tuna season ends around November). He said
Spain hoped to send at least one warship and one patrol
plane, operating either from Djibouti or the Seychelles,
perhaps as early as September. However, in order to do this
they needed at least one other nation, European or otherwise,
to join them. To this end they were canvassing all the
countries which had supported UNSCR 1816. Their efforts have
not yet secured any concrete support (Munoz Castresana
expressed disappointment that countries such as Italy which,
like Spain, had suffered from the depredations of the pirates
had not yet stepped up). Asked about the French
contribution, he demurred, but noted the French area of
interest was closer to the Gulf of Aden while Spain's fishing
fleet would be operating closer to the Seychelles. He said
Spain hoped this short-term effort could later be replaced by
an ESDP operation. He said Spain certainly did not object to
a NATO effort, but could not wait for NATO, since Spain
believed it was important to act as soon as possible.
Nevertheless, he did not expect Spain would have any
objection to the matter being discussed in the NAC as the
United States proposed. He recognized the need for
coordination and transparency among the various potential
efforts. He also said Spain (as we have reported previously,
e.g., ref b) would be very interested in any assistance the
United States might be willing to provide, either via NATO or
bilaterally, to the Spanish effort.


3. (C) Additionally, Poloff delivered reftel points to
Spanish MFA Deputy Political Director Ricardo Lopez Aranda.
Lopez acknowledged the points but did not provide a
substantive response.
Aguirre