US- EU SECURITY DIALOGUES: IMPORTANT BUT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BRUSSELS 001669 SIPDIS PM FOR CPETRONE, ERA FOR NDEAN E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/01/2019 TAGS: EUN MARR PARM ETTC PINS PREL SUBJECT: US- EU SECURITY DIALOGUES: IMPORTANT BUT INSUFFICIENT REF: A. STATE 112900 ¶B. BRUSSELS 1301 BRUSSELS 00001669 001.3 OF 003 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires, a.i., Christopher W. Murray for reaso n 1.4b/d ¶1. (C) Summary: This message responds to Reftel request for information on pol-mil security dialogues with allies and partners around the world. Under "The New Transatlantic Agenda," established in 1995, the U.S. and EU engage in about two dozen semi-annual regional and thematic political dialogues. Among these are several security-related structured dialogues-- on non-proliferation and disarmament, conventional arms control, OSCE issues, and UN issues--held at the Assistant Secretary level with the EU's erstwhile &troika8 format of EU Presidency, European Commission and EU Council Secretariat. The annual Verification and Compliance Dialogue is also held at Assistant Secretary level, but features participation from all 27 EU Member States. The Obama administration's intensified focus on arms control and non-proliferation and on multilateral approaches have more closely aligned us with existing EU policy consensus ("common positions") and have energized these dialogues and begun to make them more results-oriented. The architecture of the dialogues has not been updated to reflect the EU's emergence as a security actor over the last decade. There is no formal structure to exchange views on civilian and military crisis management operations, despite our agreed U.S.-EU crisis management work plan and increasing operational cooperation in the field. Adding a structured discussions of crisis management operations to our list of dialogues should be a relatively easy fix. End Summary. THE ORIGINS OF THE TROIKA SYSTEM ¶2. (U) The U.S.-EU Troika exchanges were launched at the personal initiative of Secretary of State James Baker in 1990-91. The initial semi-annual rounds of exchanges comprised about ten issues, including various geographical regions, human rights, UN affairs, and CSCE. The New Transatlantic Agenda, in 1995, furthered U.S.-EU joint action towards common interests. It set the framework for discussions between the U.S. and the EU, including an annual head of state summit and senior-level "troikas" on geographic and functional foreign policy issues. The New Transatlantic Agenda brought forward the 1990 Transatlantic Declaration between the United States and the then European Community. The Declaration established the "troika system" ) a network of 20 working group meetings on geographic and functional issues. These meetings, which occur every six months, mirror the EU's working group system for decision-making. ¶3. (SBU) The Troika meetings bring together U.S. officials and representatives of the EU Presidency, the European Commission, and the European Council Secretariat at the Assistant Secretary level for discussions of external and security policy issues. At present, this means the EU has four distinct parties in the room: the Presidency country (Sweden),the incoming Presidency (Spain),the Commission, and the Council Secretariat. Under the Lisbon Treaty, troika attendance is expected to be consolidated under the delegated chair of the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Commission Vice President Catherine Ashton. Implementation of this structure will take time to evolve, and the term "troika" itself will drop in favor of "political dialogue." BRUSSELS 00001669 002.2 OF 003 RECENT PROGRESS IN TROIKA DISCUSSIONS ¶4. (C) The Obama administration's strong emphasis on arms control, non-proliferation, and disarmament has energized the discussion in troikas related to those issues. For instance, U.S. and EU officials at the most recent non-proliferation and disarmament troika laid the groundwork for a substantive non-proliferation declaration at the U.S.-EU summit in November 2009 (Ref b). In part due to troika exchanges, we have recognized the value of the EU as a partner on non-proliferation, and have invited the EU High Representative to the spring 2010 Nuclear Security Summit. EU representatives will prepare for this summit during Working Group meetings, so we can use next spring's "political dialogue" on this subject to tee-up meaningful EU interventions at the summit. The Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, Ellen Tauscher, met with the EU Member States' Political and Security Committee ambassadors this fall. ¶5. (SBU) In addition to these security centered political dialogues, there are numerous others that discuss security issues within geographical or functional contexts. The OSCE troika covers the full range of OSCE issues, including Russia's security architecture proposal, and complements the regular meetings that USOSCE holds with the EU caucus in Vienna. There are also political dialogues on counter terrorism and counter drug policies, for example. Other geographically centered political dialogues also include discussion of security concerns relevant to their respective regions, such as on Africa, South Asia, the Western Balkans, and the Middle East. ROOM FOR GROWTH ¶6. (SBU) The overall structure provides a valuable mechanism for regular senior level exchanges on the full range of external and security policy issues of concern to the U.S. and EU; however the process could be even more effective. To move beyond talking points, post has recommended that bureaus strive to provide non-papers in advance of the meetings to prime the pump for broader discussion or to focus the dialogues on tangible deliverables, such as the NP declaration. Such exchanges would also enable the EU to reach internal consensus among its 27 member states on any new action items before the meetings, enabling U.S. and EU representatives to focus on reaching agreement around the table in Brussels. Upgrading the conventional arms control troika discussion from a Video-Conference to an in-person meeting would be a way to focus this dialogue, which currently suffers from a sense of detachment imposed by the DVC format. (Note: the next Disarmament Troika is scheduled for late February 2009. End Note.) ¶7. (C) The system of U.S.-EU troika discussions does not include a discussion of the full range of issues dealt with by EU Political and Security Committee (PSC) Ambassadors. Because in part the U.S.-EU Troika dialogues were established prior to the advent of the European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP),our dialogue does not include a structured dialogue on civilian and military crisis management issues that can consider the issues covered by the EU's Pol-Mil Working Group and the Civilian Crisis Management Working Group. As the EU is maturing as a security actor, establishing dialogues in these areas would allow greater BRUSSELS 00001669 003.3 OF 003 coordination with ESDP,s development. Such a move would provide us with an easy fix to the current holes in our security dialogue architecture. It might provide us with an effective vehicle to promote a European perception of security environments that is closer to our own. Murray .