DURBAN: GERMANY WILL NOT PARTICIPATE; BREAKS RANKS

C O N F I D E N T I A L BERLIN 000463 DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS TO IO/ SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/20/2019 TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM GM SUBJECT: DURBAN: GERMANY WILL NOT PARTICIPATE; BREAKS RANKS WITH OTHER EU STATES REF: BERLIN 485 Classified By: Political Minister Counselor Jeffrey Rathke for reasons 1.4 (b,d). ¶1. (C) After the failure of 11th hour attempts by Foreign Minister Steinmeier (Social Democratic Party) to broker a unified EU position and explain the German position, Germany announced its unilateral decision late on April 19 not to send an official delegation to the Durban Review Conference. MFA Human Rights Department desk officer Dirk Sander told Poloff April 20 that the decision taken was to leave the seat for Germany empty and to "observe" the conference, rather than to send a diplomatic note officially withdrawing from the conference. Sander noted that it had been clear to Steinmeier from his discussions that no EU consensus could be reached because of the clear split in views. He mentioned Sweden, Norway, the UK, and the French as coming out clearly for participating. ¶2. (C) Prior to Steinmeier's discussions with other EU member states, he and Chancellor Merkel (Christian Democratic Union) had reached an agreement that there were more reasons to stay away from the conference than to participate and that a "national" decision should be taken, according to Sander. He said that the two rivals in the upcoming national elections agreed not to turn this into a domestic political issue. Greens caucus deputy chair Joergen Trittin criticized the decision, saying that Germany would not have a chance to prevent the conference from producing an anti-Semitic and overly critical document against Israel. ¶3. (U) The late-night press release on the decision quotes Foreign Minister Steinmeier as saying the following: Begin text: I have decided today that Germany will not attend the Durban follow-up conference that is scheduled to begin tomorrow. This was not an easy decision to take for us. However, despite intense efforts by the EU in the run-up to the conference, the federal government continues to fear that this conference will be misused as a platform for other interests, as had been the case at the 2001 Durban conference. We cannot accept that. I call on all participants to commit to an effective fight against racism and racial discrimination, and not to use the upcoming conference for other means. We will follow the conference very closely as observers. We will continue to coordinate closely with our EU partners, and we will keep the option open to again actively participate at a later point in time. End text. Anania