FRENCH MFA RECEIVES DEMARCHE ON DEALING WITH

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 001426

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/23/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV PTER KDEM FR SY LE PHUM
SUBJECT: FRENCH MFA RECEIVES DEMARCHE ON DEALING WITH
SYRIA, PROVIDES INFORMATION ON SYRIAN DEPUTY PM DARDARI,S
JULY 21-22 VISIT TO PARIS

REF: SECSTATE 78880

Classified By: PolMC Kathleen Allegrone for reasons 1.4 (B & D).


1. (C) SUMMARY: On July 23 Poloffs delivered reftel points to
French MFA Syria desk officer Jean-Christophe Auge and
European Affairs officer Anne Predour. Auge said a Sarkozy
visit to Damascus was highly likely but subject to a
last-minute cancellation depending on events in Lebanon and
whether Syria acts in good faith on normalizing relations
between Beirut and Damascus. FM Kouchner would most likely
advance the Sarkozy visit after August 19, but the trip was
still subject to scheduling constraints. Auge said the GOF
was extremely concerned with the human rights situation in
Syria, including the arrest of a Damascus Declaration
National Council member immediately after a recent visit from
Elysee secretary general Claude Gueant and diplomatic adviser
Jean David Levitte. He claimed the Syrians were listening to
French concerns and not rejecting them out of hand as they
had done in the past. With respect to the July 21-22 Paris
visit of Syria's Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs
Dardari, Predour reported that French officials reiterated
the GOF's tough line on its expectations in Lebanon.
Dardari's main interest in visiting France was to discuss
economic issues related to Sarkozy's upcoming visit to Syria
and to solicit increased French engagement in economic reform
efforts. The EU had yet to decide how it wanted to proceed
in terms of the draft association agreement, but that such a
decision would follow Sarkozy's visit and be taken pursuant
to his recommendation in his capacity as current EU Council
president, she said. END SUMMARY.


Sarkozy and Kouchner Damascus visits: Dates not firm
-------------- --------------


2. (C) We delivered reftel points July 23 to French MFA
Syria desk officer Jean-Christophe Auge. In the absence of
more senior interlocutors until mid-August due to vacation,
we agreed in principle to organize a meeting with Auge's
boss, DAS-equivalent Ludovic Pouille o/a August 19. We asked
Auge whether this would occur before or after French Foreign
Minister Kouchner's expected visit to Damascus in late August
to prepare for French President Sarkozy's visit in early to
mid September. Auge responded that Kouchner had not yet
decided on a firm date for his visit, but it would likely
fall after August 19. He noted scheduling constraints like
the annual conference of French ambassadors in Paris that
will begin August 26 or 27. There was a possibility Kouchner
might wait until after that conference, but it would almost
defeat the purpose of his going to advance Sarkozy's visit if
there is only a few days interval. When we asked whether the
date of 8 September for a Sarkozy visit we had seen in an MFA
list of official visits was final, Auge initially demurred
but later said that a September 7-8 timeframe was entirely
possible. He also acknowledged that the French Presidency --
and the MFA -- saw the Sarkozy visit to Damascus as highly
likely but subject to a last-minute cancellation depending on
events in Lebanon and whether Syria acts in good faith on
normalizing relations between Beirut and Damascus.


GOF concerns about human rights abuses and Lebanon
-------------- --------------


3. (C) Auge, who had read through the points we had prepared
as a non-paper, declined to offer a detailed, substantive
response. He did, however, described it as "comprehensive"
in the English sense of being complete but not necessarily
"comprehensive" in the French sense of suggesting an
understanding of what lies behind the Syrian positions on the
issues raised. Auge said that France was extremely concerned
with the human rights situation, including the clumsy
coincidence of the arrest immediately after Elysee secretary
general Claude Gueant and diplomatic adviser Jean David
Levitte recently visited Damascus. He further claimed that
the Syrians were listening to French concerns and not
rejecting them out of hand as they had done in the past.


4. (C) With respect to the July 21-22 visit of Syria's
Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs ((Abdallah))
Dardari, Auge and his colleague from one of the MFA's
European affairs offices, Anne Predour, reported that State
Secretary for Europe ((Alain)) Jouyet had reiterated the
GOF's tough line on its expectations in Lebanon. According
to Auge, Jouyet was the only MFA official to meet with
Dardari. He called Jouyet a good choice because Jouyet had
presided over a French/Lebanese organization before his
current position and has a reputation as a hardliner in terms
of Syria's presumed involvement in political violence in
Lebanon, including the assassination of former PM Rafiq

PARIS 00001426 002 OF 002


Hariri.


EU association agreement pending outcome of Sarkozy visit
-------------- --------------


5. (C) Auge confirmed that Dardai's main interest in
visiting France was to discuss economic issues related to
Sarkozy's upcoming visit to Syria but also to solicit
increased French engagement in economic reform efforts
Dardari is pursuing. Predour said that the EU had yet to
decide, probably among foreign ministers, how it wanted to
proceed in terms of the draft association agreement. The
principal options were to proceed with ratification on the
basis of the draft initialed in 2004 or to reopen
negotiations to take into account the two additional EU
members since agreement was reached on the current draft.
Based on what Predour and Auge said, we had the impression
that such a decision would follow Sarkozy's visit to Damascus
and be taken pursuant to his recommendation in his capacity
as current EU Council president.


6. (C) Dardari had a separate meeting with Finance Minister
Christine Lagarde. Auge stated that a large part of the
meeting was devoted to discussing respective challenges of
economic reform in the two countries. Dardari asked for help
to promote transparency, combat corruption (which Dardari
supposedly admitted was a major brake on Syrian economic
development),and train Syrian officials. The Lagarde
meeting did not, according to Auge, focus on commercial
contracts the Syrians want to pursue with French firms. That
was handled in separate meetings with the companies concerned
and the major French employers organization.


7. (U) Additionally, Le Figaro newspaper reported on July 24
that warming relations between Paris and Damascus could lead
to some added benefits for French private industry,
especially in the petroleum sector. French petrol giant
Total is in joint-venture talks with state-owned Syrian
Petroleum Company that would permit Total to operate in
Syria, which is a dramatic change of events from relations
between the two countries during the Chirac administration.
Damascus is also counting on Total to modernize oil fields in
east Syria, as well as to construct more refineries in
conjunction with Qatar Petroleum Company. All of this,
however, depends on Sarkozy,s signature of the agreement on
his future visit to Damascus. Representatives from the
French Agency for Development (AFD) intend to visit Syria in
August, while French employer,s union MEDEF (Mouvement des
Entreprises de France) staff intend to visit Syria in
December.



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