GERMANY'S VIEWS OF THE JULY 27-28 GAERC MEETING

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BERLIN 000886

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/22/2019
TAGS: PREL MARR EUN SO MOPS OSCE PHUM UN GG RS GM
EU
SUBJECT: GERMANY'S VIEWS OF THE JULY 27-28 GAERC MEETING

Classified By: JGIAUQUE EMAIL DATED JULY 16 2009
BERLIN 00869


1. (C) SUMMARY. Germany expects significant discussion of
Iran before and during next week's EU General Affairs and
External Relations Council (GAERC),in addition to
discussions of Somalia and Georgia. However, the EU plans to
wait until September to begin a regular review of which
Iranian individuals and entities associated with
proliferation are subject to sanctions. On Somalia, the MFA
confirmed that Germany shares U.S. concerns about the flow of
support to the extremist orgnization al-Shabaab and wants to
work with the U.S. on ways to stem the flow of support and
fighters into the region. MFA's views largely track with our
points on Afghanistan, but the MFA continues to express
strong reservations regarding a potential U.S. role in the EU
Monitoring Mission (EUMM) in Georgia (ref b). Post delivered
ref A points on the July 27-28 EU GAERC to MFA Head EU
Correspondent Michael Fluegger on July 17, and followed-up
with him on July 21. We also delivered the Georgia points
earlier to MFA Deputy Division Head for the South Caucasus
and Central Asia Maria Gosse (see Ref B). END SUMMARY.


2. (C) Post delivered ref A points on the July 27-28 EU
GAREC to MFA Head EU Correspondent Michael Fluegger on July
17 and followed-up with him on July 21. We also delivered the
Georgia points earlier to MFA Deputy Division Head for the
South Caucasus and Central Asia Maria Grosse (see Ref B). We
spoke separately with MFA Near East Division Director Boris
Ruge to reinforce our concerns on Syria, and with MFA Iran
Unit Chief Andreas Krueger to discuss Iran.

IRAN
--------------


3. (C) Krueger told Iran Watcher that the EU will likely
begin discussion on the Iran in the July 22 PSC meeting in
the run-up to the July GAERC. While Sweden, in its role as
EU President, wants to hold a debate on how the EU should
position itself towards Iran, other Member States consider it
to be too early. Germany would like to see the PSC and the
GAERC serve as a forum to reflect on the events in Iran, as
well as to set the stage and prepare Member States for what
will likely be a difficult period of relations with Iran. It
is important to make clear to other EU countries that they
need to prepare for a time when effort beyond agreeing upon
additional sanctions will be needed. He noted that while the
debate will certainly take place at the UN level, some Member
States need to realize that the sanctions issue will also
need to be debated within the EU. He added that EU Member
States continue to informally slow-roll official visa (but
not tourist) applications by Iranian government officials.
On human rights, he noted that the EU Presidency is drafting
a statement on the situation of the French researcher
currently imprisoned in Iran.


4. (C) In general, Fluegger thought there were three
possible actions that the GAERC could take: a statement by EU
president Sweden, a decision to have the EU troika demarche
Tehran and/or contining the delay in acting on visa
applications from Iranian officials. He noted that the
informal EU agreement to slow-roll Iranian visa applications
had been taken at informal meeting of EU political directors
in early July. He noted, however, that while the Schengen
countries can have a common visa policy vis a vis Iran, that
does not necessarily apply to EU members who are not members
of the Schengen area. It turns out, for example, that
Bulgaria has no visa requirement at all for Iranians.
Fluegger also noted that beginning in September, a regular EU
review of the list of Iranian individuals and entities
associated with proliferation who are currently subject to EU
sanctions will begin. The idea is to update the list and to
designate additional individuals and entities as required.

SOMALIA
--------------


5. (C) MFA Somalia Desk Officer Karsten Geier told poloff on
July 21 that our points on Somalia basically track with MFA
views, and expected the GAERC conclusions to touch upon the
same points. More specifically, Fluegger confirmed that
Germany shares U.S. concerns about the flow of support to the
extremist organization al-Shabaab and wants to work with the
U.S. on ways to stem the flow of support and fighters into
the region. He noted that the French are just about to
launch training program for Somalia security forces in

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Djibouti and have asked the Germans for support. Fluegger
said that Defense Minister Jung has already indicated his
willingness to support the program in principle, but it still
not clear what role Germany will play. Moreover, Geier
agreed on the need to support the TFG as well as the AMISOM.

GEORGIA
--------------


6. (C) Supporting what we heard from Gosse last week (ref
b),Fluegger emphasized that Germany was not ruling out a
U.S. role in the EUMM at some point, but simply had doubts
that the timing was right for now. He was afraid that U.S.
participation in the mission could make the EUMM more of a
target by extremists who were trying to provoke a
confrontation between the U.S. and Russia. He recommended
that we take it slow and avoid any fast decisions one way or
the other on this question. He noted that the U.S. was
already present in Georgia doing valuable work on rule of law
and other issues on a bilateral basis and should continue to
do so.


7. (C) Since last week, the MFA has concluded that the idea
of U.S. participation originally came from Georgia and
possibly Sweden, according to Fluegger and MFA Head of
Russia, Ukraine, Belarus Division Ernst Reichel. Fluegger
said that Germany took a more differentiated view of the
proposal than other countries (he mentioned the Baltics),
which had immediately endorsed it unreservedly. He noted
that the EUMM had been originally agreed to by Sarkozy and
Medvedev as a neutral body consisting of personnel from
European countries who would keep the Georgians from
launching an attack against Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and
vice versa. He said that while Germany supported in
principle allowing third countries (i.e., non-EU members) to
join the EUMM (he mentioned Turkey, Norway, Switzerland,
etc.),he thought that adding the U.S. to the mix at the
current time could upset the balance and lead the Russians to
charge that the EU was not keeping its promise of neutrality.



8. (C) Fluegger said that one area where greater U.S.
involvement would be useful was in the Geneva talks. He
noted that EU Special Rep Pierre Morel thought it would be
extremely helpful for making progress if a senior U.S.
official, such as EUR Assistant Secretary Phil Gordon, took
part.
Bradtke