NEW NATO/EU COORDINATION BUREAU FINDING ITS ROLE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KYIV 000429 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/06/2019 TAGS: NATO PGOV PREL UP SUBJECT: NEW NATO/EU COORDINATION BUREAU FINDING ITS ROLE Classified By: Political Counselor Colin Cleary for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) Vadym Triukhan, Director of the newly formed Coordination Bureau for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration within the Cabinet of Ministers, recently outlined for Embassy his vision of the group's role in the existing network of often overlapping NATO/EU-focused inter-governmental coordinating bodies. The Bureau consists of two EU and one NATO-focused units and reports directly to Deputy Prime Minister Nemyria, who was charged in March 2008 by Presidential Decree with coordinating all NATO/EU issues. A draft Presidential decree providing the Bureau with the authority to coordinate the drafting of Ukraine's NATO Annual National Program (ANP) was recently pulled back for revision, leaving the competencies of the Bureau unclear. The MFA's NATO and EU Directorates are guarding their primacy in the foreign policy arena, while hoping the Bureau will take on many of the domestic coordination responsibilities required by Ukraine's dual drive for NATO and EU membership. End Summary. New Group in Town -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Vadym Triukhan, Director of the Cabinet of Minister's Coordination Bureau for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, on March 4 provided PolCouns with an overview of the structure and potential responsibilities of his group. The Coordination Bureau was officially launched on July 16 by a Cabinet Resolution and is intended to support Deputy Prime Minister Hryhorhiy Nemyria in his role as Coordinator for all Euro/Euro-Atlantic integration issues within the government. Nemyria was initially tasked with this role by President Yushchenko in a March 8 decree, but continued delays in confirming the scope and competencies of his role pushed back the formation of the Coordination Bureau. The Bureau staffed up over the Fall and began to participate in meetings beginning in January 2009. ¶3. (SBU) Triukhan noted that he currently has 40 staff and hopes to fill 10 additional slots if the 2009 budget amendments anticipated for this Spring provide funding. He noted that the economic downturn in Ukraine had made it easier for him to recruit qualified staff. The Bureau has two sections dedicated to EU issues -- one responsible for Strategic Planning (free trade area, sectoral cooperation, Council of Europe),and another responsible for Monitoring (compliance with Ukrainian-EU agreements, training of Ministry personnel on EU integration issues.) A third section is responsible for Euro-Atlantic (NATO) issues and includes policy coordination, public outreach and legal cooperation units. The NATO unit currently has 11 staff and hopes to fill an additional five slots. Substantive Focus -------------- ¶4. (C) Triukhan viewed work on the EU Association Agreement as a key for the Bureau, adding that President Yushchenko's repeated public calls for completing an Association Agreement by the end of 2009 were unrealistic and counterproductive. The EU's Eastern Partnership (EP) was another focus, with the Bureau intending to organize a May 27-28 Conference in Kyiv to follow up on the May 7 EP Summit. Triukhan added that the domestic political crisis has not been helpful in moving forward with key negotiations with the EU -- including on visas, aviation, and energy. He noted that the EU had wanted to complete an aviation agreement in March, but that Ukraine saw the talks as one-sided with the EU pushing on access without providing counterbalancing concessions on technical assistance and industrial cooperation. MFA sees Bureau as Resource and Potential Competitor -------------- -------------- ¶5. (C) The adoption at the December 2008 NATO Ministerial of a Annual National Program (ANP) to replace the Annual Target Plan (ATP) for Ukraine created an enhanced drafting and coordination requirement for the GOU. The MFA NATO Directorate, which to date had somewhat unwillingly taken the lead role in coordinating and drafting previous ATPs, sees the new Bureau as a natural coordinator for the ANP. MFA NATO Deputy DG Vadym Prystaiko on March 5 told us that his Ministry had sent a draft Presidential Decree to the Presidential Secretariat which would have tasked and empowered the Coordination Bureau with coordinating and preparing the ANP. The MFA had always seen as onerous the responsibility of collating and drafting ATPs drawn from KYIV 00000429 002 OF 002 inputs from 15 domestic Ministries and agencies. The Presidential Secretariat returned the draft decree requesting more specificity regarding scope and procedures. ¶6. (C) Given the often glacial nature of preparing and passing Presidential Decrees this indicates that the MFA will retain the lead on the ANP for the foreseeable future. Prystaiko added that it will in any event take a long time for the Coordination Bureau staff to gain familiarity with the complex and politically sensitive process of inter-governmental coordination within the split-executive of Ukraine. He lamented that only two of the members of Truikhan's NATO team had prior experience in foreign or security policy. ¶7. (C) In contrast to Prystaiko's focus on what tasks could be transferred from the MFA to the Coordination Bureau, Second Territorial Directorate Deputy DG Andrii Kuzmenko, who has the lead on EU issues, focused on the potential for competition with Triukhan's group. During a March 5 meeting Kuzmenko noted that any attempt by the Bureau to become more involved in the negotiations with the European Commission regarding the EU Association Agreement or Eastern Partnership talks would be rebuffed. Regarding the May 27-28 EP Conference the Bureau was intending to organize, Kuzmenko noted that the MFA had been informed and was "evaluating whether to participate." Kuzmenko emphasized that the Bureau's competencies were limited to domestic activities, such as insuring compliance with international commitments. Dip Community Still Evaluating Bureau -------------- ¶8. (C) Colleagues in the UK and German Embassies told us that they were increasingly reaching out to Triukhan's Bureau to gauge whether it could deliver and be an effective intermediary. German First Secretary Meyer noted especially the increasing frustration within the German Mission with the MFA and its increased requirement for notes verbale for all requests -- the Germans were relying more and more on DPM Nemyria and his staff (which now included the Bureau) to intercede on a wide range of issues (GOU views on bilat relations with Germany to be reported septel.) That said, both the UK and Germans agreed that Triukhan's group would suffer from the increasingly sharp exchanges over control of foreign policy that were taking place between the Yushchenko controlled MFA and the Cabinet of Minister's apparatus. Comment -------------- ¶9. (C) In theory a 40-strong coordinating cell in the Cabinet should enhance the GOU's ability to meet its commitments within the NATO/EU frameworks. Its effectiveness will depend on how quickly its personnel can familiarize themselves with the existing plethora of coordination mechanisms and find their niche. The absence for the foreseeable future of a decree clarify authorities and responsibilities means that Triukhan's Bureau will have to develop sharp elbows. We will continue to engage with the Bureau with the hope that it will ultimately be able to help streamline the GOU coordination process. TAYLOR