GERMAN VIEWS ON SEPTEMBER 14-15 GAERC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BERLIN 001132 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/11/2019 TAGS: PREL EUN EAID PHUM ETRD AF PK GM CE ZJ SUBJECT: GERMAN VIEWS ON SEPTEMBER 14-15 GAERC REF: A. 9/4 EUR/ERA E-MAIL ¶B. STATE 92641 Classified By: POLITICAL-MILITARY/EXTERNAL CHIEF BILL MOELLER. REASONS: 1.4 (B) AND (D). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY. Germany shares the U.S. assessment of the situation of IDPs in Sri Lanka and the need to act quickly, but notes that the EU Council is currently not on track to take action until October. While agreeing that the EU should enhance its trade and investment with Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, Germany argues that it is still too early for negotiations on new agreements; the 133 Committee first needs to examine what is possible. On EU AF/PAK projects, Germany believes the priorities should be supporting rule of law and governance, fully staffing the EU Police Mission (EUPOL), assisting with the 2010 Afghan parliamentary elections and facilitating regional cooperation. Germany will not abandon its commitment to provide 120 police and rule-of-law experts to EUPOL, but this will not happen soon since Germany is giving priority to providing police for the U.S.-led focused district development (FDD) police training program. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) PolOff discussed ref A points on the Caucasus and the ref B demarche on Sri Lankan IDPs with MFA Deputy European Corespondent Angela Ganniger on September 10. CHANGED FORMAT ¶3. (C) Ganninger noted that the Swedish EU presidency was changing the normal schedule of GAERC, with general affairs being handled on Monday afternoon (September 14) and external relations on Tuesday morning (September 15). Iran is scheduled to be the subject of the Monday night dinner. Ganninger expressed doubts about whether spreading the GAERC out over two days would prove feasible, given how busy EU foreign ministers were. She noted, for example, that FM Steinmeier would have to miss the general affairs portion of the meeting on Monday; Germany will be represented by Europe State Minister Guenter Gloser. SRI LANKA ¶4. (C) Ganninger said Germany shared the U.S. assessment of the situation of IDPs (ref B) and agreed that urgent action was necessary to encourage the government to allow freedom of movement. She reported that MFA had provided 3.2 million Euros in humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka so far in 2009, while the Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development had committed 2 million Euros in emergency food aid and 5 million Euros for reconstruction and housing assistance. Ganninger promised to pass along our points to the MFA Sri Lanka desk officer, who would be able to give more information on what Germany planned to do on a bilateral basis. (Post will follow up and provide a read-out septel.) ¶5. (C) As far as EU action was concerned, Ganninger said the first step was to figure out exactly what levers the EU had vis-a-vis Sri Lanka and which should be used in exerting pressure to resolve the IDP situation. She said the plan was for EU experts to meet in September to formulate options and recommendations, in preparation for an EU Council decision in October. Drawing on Ref B, PolOff underscored the necessity of getting results by the end of September, before the onset of the monsoon season, and urged Germany to push for accelerated EU action. CAUCASUS ¶6. (C) While agreeing that the EU should enhance its trade and investment with Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, Ganninger argued it was still too early for negotiations on new agreements. The 133 Committee first needed to examine what was possible. Ganninger emphasized that EU trade concessions would have to be matched by concrete commitments to reform by the three countries. Ganninger also volunteered that the EU would have to examine in the coming months how to adapt the EU Monitoring Mission (EUMM) in Georgia, now that the OSCE mission and UN Observer Mission (UNOMIG) were gone. Similarly, the EU had to look at whether it still made sense to have an EU special representative for the South Caucasus (Peter Semneby) as well as a separate special representative for Georgia (Pierre Morel). AFGHANISTAN/PAKISTAN ¶7. (C) Ganninger said the goal was to have agreement on an action plan of EU projects in Afghanistan/Pakistan by October. She identified the priorities as supporting rule of BERLIN 00001132 002 OF 002 law and governance, staffing the EU Police Mission (EUPOL) up to the end goal of 400, assisting with the 2010 Afghan parliamentary elections and facilitating regional cooperation. On EUPOL, she said that Germany would not abandon its previous commitment to provide 120 police and rule-of-law specialists. However, the reality was that it would difficult to meet the 120-person commitment for EUPOL any time soon, given that the priority now was on providing police to the U.S.-led focused district development (FDD) police training program. Ganninger said that as EUPOL grows toward the 400 target, Germany will strive to provide at least 20 percent of the total force. Murphy