GERMANY NON-COMMITAL ON NEXT ROUND OF VOTING FOR

C O N F I D E N T I A L BERLIN 000565 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR IO/T MATTHEW GOLDSTEIN E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/14/2019 TAGS: IAEA KNNP MNUC PARM IR GM SUBJECT: GERMANY NON-COMMITAL ON NEXT ROUND OF VOTING FOR IAEA DIRECTOR GENERAL REF: A. STATE 46302 ¶B. UNVIE 209 Classified By: Political Minister Counselor Jeff Rathke for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) PolOff delivered ref points to Martin Langer, head of the MFA's IAEA Unit in the Nuclear Arms Control (REF 240) Division on May 15. Langer noted that Germany shares many of our views regarding Amano's candidacy for the IAEA's Director General position, and supported him in the last round of voting. But, he noted, Germany is currently undecided about which candidate it will support in the next round, particularly in light of the new candidates that have appeared, consistent with UNVIE's reporting in REF B. (NOTE: Langer mentioned Mr. Jean-Pol Poncelet of Belgium and Mr. Luis Echavarri of Spain by name, and noted Poncelet's impressive resume. END NOTE.) ¶2. (C) Langer noted that Germany believes it is important that a situation be avoided where the NAM countries and the Western Group countries are again divided. He asked whether the U.S. was committed to supporting Amano, or whether we were considering support for one of the new candidates. "At the end of the day," Langer said, "we need to come to support the candidate that can receive two-thirds of the votes." When asked about Germany's decision-making process, Langer pointed out that Poltical Director Stanzel may have spoken prematurely in April about Germany's unconditional support for Amano, particularly since the German interagency on this issue, while led by Arms Control Commissioner Gottwald, also includes input from the Ministry of Economics and the Environmental Ministry. ¶3. (SBU) Langer expressed his willingness to discuss the issue further as the process continues. His contact information is martin.langer@diplo.de, or 0049-30-5000-4220. Koenig