FRANCE: SARKOZY'S JANUARY COLLOQUIUM - INVITATION TO NEW

C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 002259


SIPDIS

WHITE HOUSE FOR NSC AND NEC: DPRICE; TBRADLEY AND KKVIEN
STATE FOR: E; EUR/FO; EEB/FO AND OBAMA TRANSITION STAFF
TREASURY FOR U/S MCCORMICK AND LNORTON

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/03/2018
TAGS: ECON EFIN PGOV PREL WTO EU FR
SUBJECT: FRANCE: SARKOZY'S JANUARY COLLOQUIUM - INVITATION TO NEW
U.S. ADMINISTRATION

REF: PARIS 002183

Classified by Charge Mark Pekala, reasons 1.4 (b),(d) and (e)


1. (SBU) Summary: Embassy has received a formal invitation from the
GOF inviting Ambassador Stapleton and representatives of the new U.S.
Administration to participate in the recently announced January 8-9
Paris Colloquium on: New World, New Capitalism. Copies of the
invitation and draft program have been emailed to the Department.
Action request: (Para 5) Embassy requests guidance asap re U.S.
participation. End summary.


2. (SBU) In his letter to the Ambassador, State Secretary Besson,
who has the lead in the GOF on organizing the colloquium, notes that
President Sarkozy and former UK PM Blair will be co-hosts of the
event. PM Fillon will host dinner after the first day and FM Kouchner
will host a closing lunch. Confirmed participants, according to the
correspondence from Besson, include: Angela Merkel, Chancellor of
Germany; Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, President of Liberia; Giulio
Tremonti, Italian Minister of Finance; Neelie Kroes, EU Commissioner
for Competition; Pascal Lamy, Director of the WTO; Gamal Mubarak,
leader of the Egyptian National Democratic Party; Edmund Phelps,
Nobel Prize Winner; Amartya Sen, Nobel Prize Winner; Joseph Stiglitz,
Nobel Prize Winner; Francis Fukuyama, Professor at John Hopkins
University; Howard Davies, Director of the London School of
Economics, and Jean-Paul Fitoussi, Professor at Sciences Po Paris.


3. (SBU) We understand that this list continues to grow by the day.
The substantive program for the one-and-a-half-day conference will
consist of three round tables with five speakers on each. The topics
for the roundtables are: Values of capitalism - Can or should
capitalism be moralized; Have the benefits of globalization been
overestimated; and, How far capitalism be regulated.


4. (C) In our conversations with Besson's staff it is clear that they
would welcome participation of the USG as well as representatives of
the incoming Administration; possibly along the lines of the formula
used at the G20 Summit in Washington, where the President-Elect
designated certain individuals to meet with delegations on his
behalf.


5. (C) Comment and Action Request: The January Colloquium in Paris,
judging from its themes and President Sarkozy's recent initiatives on
the global economy, will likely go far toward advocating a regulatory
heavy, quasi-permanent role for government to control market
economies. It would be timely and useful to have this high-level
gathering hear an American perspective. In particular, this
conference offers an opportunity to manage French and international
expectations of U.S. policy on managing the current global financial
crisis.

Pekala