BERLUSCONI ADVISER SAYS PM "IRRITATED" BY UK,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ROME 001484 NOFORN SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/05/2018 TAGS: ENRG EFIN OVIP PREL PGOV IT SUBJECT: BERLUSCONI ADVISER SAYS PM "IRRITATED" BY UK, FRENCH G20/G8 MANEUVERING ROME 00001484 001.4 OF 002 Classified By: DCM Elizabeth Dibble for reasons 1.4 b and d ¶1. (C/NOFORN) SUMMARY: Italian energy official Sergio Garribba told us on December 5 that PM Berlusconi is "irritated" by efforts by Britain and France to shift energy and finance issues away from the G8 and into the G20. Garribba told us that Berlusconi is concerned about these moves and sees them "as a threat to the G8 itself." According to Garribba, Berlusconi plans to deal with this threat by agreeing to expand the G8 to 14, adding the G5 outreach countries and the EU Commission. (Note: Berlusconi announced on December 5 that he would invite the G5 plus Egypt, Australia, Indonesia and a group of African countries to the G8 Summit at La Maddalena. End note) Berlusconi, he said, was reluctant to talk about these problems with POTUS during his October 13 visit to Washington, preferring to wait for the new U.S. administration. The Italians are trying to carry out a G8 Energy Ministerial planning session on the margins of a December 19 meeting in London of energy producers and consumers. Garribba said the GOI will hold their Energy Ministerial in Rome on 24-25 May; he thinks that the list of participants could be more like the G-20 plus, with IEA, OPEC, and the World Bank also involved. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) On December 5, ECONOFFS met with Sergio Garribba of the GOI's Ministry for Economic Development. Garribba is a former GOI Director General for Energy, is a former candidate for the Presidency of the IEA, and is preparing to take charge of the Economic Development Ministry's newly organized Energy Department; this new position will make him, in effect, the GOI's senior energy official. BERLUSCONI IRRITATED WITH FRENCH, BRITISH G20 vs.G8 MOVES -------------- -------------- ¶3. (C/NOFORN) We had gone to see Garribba about relatively minor issues, but he launched into a discussion of EU infighting about Italy's upcoming G8 presidency. He told us that Prime Minister Berlusconi is "irritated" by what is seen as separate British and French efforts to take energy and finance issues out of the G8 and put these issues in the hands of the G-20. Garribba repeatedly cited a "G8 is dead" quote from President Sarkozy, and said that he thinks Sarkozy wants energy shifted to the G-20 as part of an effort to forge a global climate change deal in time for the Copenhagen UNFCCC meeting. As for the British, Garribba said the Italians suspect they want to pull key issues into the G20 simply because the UK will be the G20 President in 2009; the Italians think the British want to be able to use their Presidency to "take a new look" at a variety of international institutions. Garribba said bluntly that the British are pushing for the G-20 to "supersede and take over from the G8." ¶4. (C) Garribba told us that Prime Minister Berlusconi is concerned about these moves and sees them as a threat to the G8 itself (we got the impression that the concern is about the threat to Italy's moment in the sun as G8 president). He said that Berlusconi plans to deal with this threat by agreeing that an expansion is necessary. Berlusconi, said Garribba, would agree to add the five (Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and South Africa) as permanent members, along with the EU Commission, for a total of 14. ¶5. (C) Garribba said Russia's views on all of this are unknown. He said Berlusconi was "hesitant" to talk about G8 plans during his October 13 visit to the White House, believing it would be better to wait to see what the new U.S. administration's position is. MINISTERIAL MANEUVERING -------------- ¶6. (C) We asked Garribba about the "G8" energy meeting scheduled for December 18 in London. Garribba explained that this meeting will be in conjunction with a December 19 follow-up session to a June meeting in Jeddah of oil producers and consumers. Garribba told us that when the Japanese canceled a mid-November energy meeting (that could have served as a hand-off of the G8 energy portfolio),he decided to try to tack a planning session for Italy's G8 Energy Ministerial onto the London meeting. He is apparently ROME 00001484 002.2 OF 002 still trying to set this meeting up. ¶7. (C) Regarding his plans for an Energy Ministerial, Garribba told he has set the dates: May 24-25 in Rome. For this Ministerial, he too is thinking of an expansion far beyond the eight -- he envisions the possibility of a meeting that would include the G8 plus the five, plus Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Nigeria, Algeria and reps from IEA, OPEC, and the World Bank. He said South Korea, Australia, Indonesia, Argentina, Spain and the Netherlands might also be included. He noted that that would be close to the G-20 (implying that this long list of invitees might help thwart British efforts to pull energy into "their" G-20). Garribba listed three issues the Italians plan to put on the Ministerial's agenda: 1) investment for energy diversity and security, 2) energy strategies to respond to climate change, and 3) access to energy for developing countries. COMMENTS -------------- ¶8. (C) With the Italians just weeks away from taking over the G8 presidency, there has obviously been a great deal of debate and uncertainty over the format the summit will adopt, and what issues will be in their purview. SPOGLI