SWISS RESPONSE TO DEMARCHE ON EUROPEAN SECURITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L BERN 000257 SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/RPM, EUR/RUS, AND EUR/CE (Y.SAINT-ANDRE) E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/19/2019 TAGS: KDEM OSCE PREL NATO PGOV PHUM ECON SZ SUBJECT: SWISS RESPONSE TO DEMARCHE ON EUROPEAN SECURITY AND THE CORFU MINISTERIAL REF: SECSTATE 59226 Classified By: POLE Counselor Richard Rorvig; reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) On June 18, Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) OSCE Section Head Lukas Rosenkranz told poloff in response to reftel demarche regarding the upcoming 27-28 June 2009 informal OSCE Ministerial in Corfu, Greece, that Switzerland welcomed the Greek initiative to host informal discussion of the Russian proposal, which he described as "vague." Rosenkranz added that the GOS was not optimistic about the outcome, and thought the early June talks in Berlin were "not very productive." Rosenkranz confirmed that Swiss Foreign Minister Calmy-Rey would attend the Corfu meeting along with the Swiss PermRep to the OSCE in Vienna. Rosenkranz was still working on finalizing the Swiss position in advance of the meeting, but said that Switzerland believed the OSCE was the proper body for such discussions on European security. ¶2. (SBU) Rosenkranz also took the opportunity of this meeting with poloff to pass a draft copy of an invitation and agenda for a roundtable that the Geneva Center for Security Policy (a Swiss government-funded institute) plans to host on 11 September 2009 with the support of the FDFA. The topic will be "New European Security Architecture,"and the Swiss plan to invite no more than 30 participants from the United States, Russia, and Switzerland. Rosenkranz said that the GOS wanted to keep the discussion at the expert, rather than political, level, assuming this would promote a more frank and constructive discussion among the interlocutors. He said that the invitation and agenda were being finalized on June 18/19 and would then be passed by the Swiss Embassy in Washington to the Department. CARTER