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

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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