EUROPEAN COMMISSION SUSPENDS AID TO NICARAGUAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRUSSELS 000030

SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA/CEN ALBERT KRAAIMOORE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/09/2019
TAGS: EAID PGOV PREL NU EUN
SUBJECT: EUROPEAN COMMISSION SUSPENDS AID TO NICARAGUAN
GOVERNMENT

REF: SECSTATE 132044

Classified By: Deputy PolCouns Mary Curtin for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) On January 9, PolOff delivered reftel points to
Petros Mavromichalis, head of the Mexico and Central AMERICA
unit in the European Commission's Directorate General for
External Relations. Mavromichalis echoed U.S. concerns about
the Government of Nicaragua's backsliding on democracy. When
the EU dispatched observers to the last Nicaraguan
presidential elections, the observers noted that those
elections were generally free and fair. However, the GON did
not take the EU's advice on implementing further election
reforms at that time, and has since shown an increasing
willingness to crack down on the political opposition and
civil society. The fraudulent municipal elections in
November 2008 were the latest example of Nicaragua's
backsliding. The Commissioner for External Relations, Benita
Ferrero-Waldner has twice written to the Nicaraguan
Government to express her concerns. In the wake of the
November 2008 municipal elections, Ferrero-Waldner informed
the Nicaraguan Minister of Foreign Affairs that the
Commission would suspend its budgetary support to the GON as
of January 1, 2009. Mavromichalis estimated that the
suspended funds totaled about 60 million euros, though he
admitted that this figure is not exact. The Commission has
made clear that the suspension of aid is connected directly
to the fraudulent elections, though the Nicaraguan reaction
reportedly was dismissive of the Commission's action. The
Commission is considering reallocating the funds to support
local programming for the Nicaraguan people, programs for the
Central AMERICA region, or aid to civil society through NGOs,
although no decisions have been made.
.