Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08USNATO253
2008-07-18 11:09:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Mission USNATO
Cable title:  

FRENCH OFFICIAL JOUYET BRIEFS NATO ON PLANS FOR EU

Tags:  PREL MARR MOPS NATO EU 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0007
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHNO #0253/01 2001109
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 181109Z JUL 08
FM USMISSION USNATO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2087
INFO RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JCS WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L USNATO 000253 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/16/2018
TAGS: PREL MARR MOPS NATO EU
SUBJECT: FRENCH OFFICIAL JOUYET BRIEFS NATO ON PLANS FOR EU
PRESIDENCY

Classified By: CDA RICHARD G. OLSON, JR. FOR REASONS 1.4(b) AND (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L USNATO 000253

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/16/2018
TAGS: PREL MARR MOPS NATO EU
SUBJECT: FRENCH OFFICIAL JOUYET BRIEFS NATO ON PLANS FOR EU
PRESIDENCY

Classified By: CDA RICHARD G. OLSON, JR. FOR REASONS 1.4(b) AND (d).


1. (C) SUMMARY. French Secretary of State for European
Affairs Jeanne-Pierre Jouyet briefed the NAC on July 16 on
"Priorities Of the French EU Presidency," referring
frequently to France's October 2007 non-paper on NATO/EU
relations and the July 7 high-level seminar in Paris on the
subject. Jouyet focused on strengthening European military
capabilities, addressing the need for greater defense
expenditures, rationalization and pooling of resources, and
complementarity between NATO and the EU. Noting the urgency
of the Kosovo and Afghanistan missions, Jouyet talked about
finding "informal" and "practical" solutions, and he pushed
back against the Greek PermRep who cautioned against moving
beyond Berlin Plus. (Jouyet's as-prepared remarks e-mailed
to EUR/RPM.) END SUMMARY.


2. (C) Jeanne-Pierre Jouyet, French Secretary of State for
European Affairs, briefed the NAC July 16 on "Priorities Of
the French EU Presidency." Referring frequently to the
non-paper France distributed at NATO and the EU in October
2007 with proposals to strengthen NATO/EU relations, and to
the July 7 "high-level seminar" organized by France in Paris
with participation from NATO SecGen de Hoop Scheffer, EU
HiRep Solana, and NATO and EU member states, Jouyet stated
that during its EU presidency France will be "loyal to the
vision of a political Europe that can act for its own
security," and that Europe,s defense policy must be credible
and commensurate with its economic policy.


3. (C) Discussing capabilities, Jouyet asserted that the
current European defense effort is insufficient, and Europe
can only be a "genuine strategic partner" to the US if it
invests greater resources in defense. These, he said, are
the conclusions of the recent French White Paper on defense
reforms. Thus "Capabilities Enhancement" is a key goal of
the French presidency. On ESDP, the first step is to conduct
a renewed risk and threat assessment, and France will keep
NATO informed as this proceeds. This will be linked to a
focus on a few key tasks: Force protection, Space, Maritime,

and Crisis Management. These ambitions will require greater
European investments and pooling of resources. On the
latter, the focus is on a strong European technology base,
increased Research and Development spending, and a
rationalization of European defense industries (using the
French/UK helicopter initiative as an example).


4. (C) France will look to improve the GAERC Council of
Ministers oversight role as well as the EU's military
planning of operations -- not to compete with SHAPE, but to
have an EU headquarters capability. This can be done within
the current legal framework (i.e. in the absence of a
ratified Lisbon Treaty),Jouyet asserted.


5. (C) Regarding the French role in NATO, the focus is on
NATO's Strasbourg-Kehl Summit in April 2009 for
reintegration, and Jouyet referred to Sarkozy's June 17
speech that linked France's reintegration with strengthening
European defense capabilities. Jouyet reminded PermReps that
for the past 15 years, France has participated in NATO
operations, sharing risks and constraints.


6. (C) Jouyet stated that NATO/EU institutional relations
must be strengthened. There is already complementarity, with
21 members common to the two organizations, and the Berlin
Plus Agreement has proved useful in Macedonia and Bosnia, but
now new situations have emerged in Kosovo and Afghanistan
that require new solutions. In Afghanistan, Jouyet said
institutional cooperation has been "fragmented," and that
when the EU considers reinforcing EUPOL, it is important to
strengthen cooperation with NATO. The current situation, he
said, jeopardizes the mission and the personnel and cannot be
justified back home. France is aware of the challenges to
improving cooperation, but the credibility of both
institutions is at stake, so it is important to "meet the
concerns of Turkey and the non-EU states."


7. (C) Jouyet said that, procedurally, France seeks
implementation of the proposals in its October 2007
non-paper, and hopes to "associate" non-EU members with ESDP.
France will push to create a high-level commission chaired
by de Hoop Scheffer and Solana, with parallel military and
civilian working-level bodies. In the coming days, France
will distribute proposals for how these bodies would operate.


8. (C) In their comments, PermReps uniformly welcomed

Jouyet's remarks. Drawing from Washington guidance, US
Charge Olson said the US supports French reintegration into
NATO and its efforts to improve NATO/EU cooperation, noting
the urgent need for this in Kosovo and Afghanistan. He also
urged the EU to address legitimate concerns of non-EU partner
nations (i.e. Turkey). Olson welcomed the attention to
European capabilities and said he would like more detail on
France's proposal to develop the EU's planning headquarters
without additional personnel. Jouyet replied that France
sees Afghanistan "holistically," where all organizations have
a role and must fulfill their tasks. Jouyet did not answer
the question on planning.


9. (C) The Belgian ambassador asked if France envisions that
the review of the EU security strategy would be on a parallel
track to a review of NATO's Strategic Concept. Jouyet noted
that the December 2008 NATO Foreign Ministerial, in advance
of the April 2009 NATO Summit, provides a good opportunity to
take stock in both institutions, and he agreed that the
strategies should be reviewed in parallel.


10. (C) The Greek ambassador said he saw no need to reopen
Berlin Plus arrangements, noting that Berlin Plus includes
all member states and that non-EU military members have
benefits via the Nice agreement. Just as NATO and the UN
cooperate without a written agreement, he commented, so can
NATO and the EU. Jouyet replied that he understands the
"integrity of the framework" but France approaches the issue
with goodwill and practicality and will seek new solutions.


11. (C) The Turkish representative noted that the July 7
Paris seminar had mostly expressed views from the EU
perspective. He commented that the two organizations are
autonomous, so relations must be based on reciprocity, but
some issues on the EU agenda prevent better cooperation. He
said NATO has tried to tackle the issue of Comprehensive
Approach, but success depends on each organization fulfilling
its responsibilities. ESDP is important to Turkey, he said,
as evidenced by Turkey's contributions to many of its
missions. Jouyet replied that France wants to be pragmatic
and to work from the October 2007 French non-paper. "We want
to escape this frozen situation," he said, and find ways to
move forward "with everybody, with everybody."


12. (C) Norway noted FM Kouchner's proposal in Paris for
"informal mechanisms" of cooperation in cases where both the
EU and NATO are participating in an operation, and suggested
increased field level cooperation as well as NAC/PSC
interaction on operations. Germany expressed desire to
strengthen the civilian components of ESDP, noting that the
EU missions in Kosovo and Afghanistan are civilian in nature.


13. (C) The UK ambassador welcomed the French emphasis on
complementarity and avoiding duplication, noting that
Europeans have only one set of capabilities available to the
EU and NATO. However, a number of other EU Allies, including
Italy, agreed that the discussion should move "beyond
duplication and toward complementarity." Slovenia welcomed
Jouyet's proposal for a high-level NATO-EU commission, and
suggested including ACT in the mix. Similarly, Netherlands
urged a focus on cooperation on capabilities (i.e. between
EDA and ACT),and noted that Berlin Plus applies to cases
where either NATO or the EU are in the field, whereas current
operations involve both organizations together, hence
France's proposal for a high-level commission could usefully
address this issue.


14. (C) The Estonian ambassador asked if France would engage
in bilateral diplomacy to try to resolve political irritants,
but Jouyet responded that it would be better to resolve
problems within the EU, to reflect solidarity rather than
through bilateral talks with individual nations. Canada
asked how to increase European contributions to Afghanistan,
and Jouyet promised this would be on the EU agenda during the
French presidency, and while France has increased its
contributions, he would make no commitments for the EU as a
whole.
OLSON