CYPRIOT POSITIONS FOR JULY GAERC

C O N F I D E N T I A L NICOSIA 000479 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/22/2019 TAGS: PREL PGOV IR SO GG EUN CY SUBJECT: CYPRIOT POSITIONS FOR JULY GAERC REF: A. POINTS FOR JULY GAERC FROM INTELLIPEDIA ¶B. NICOSIA 469 Classified By: A/DCM HADLEY FOR REASONS 1.4 (b) AND 1.4 (d) ¶1. (C) On July 22, Poloffs delivered reftel points to MFA European Union desk officer Nikos Panayiotou. Starting with Iran, Panayioutou said that the EU is presenting a unified stance concerning the detention of UK Embassy employees and one French citizen during the post-election turmoil. While the EU has discussed a variety of actions against Iran, for its part the GOC supports a slower, incremental approach so that the EU does not play all of its cards upfront. The EU will remain in a "wait and see" phase and, at most, respond with another demarche in Tehran. On Iran's nuclear program, Panayiotou said it was best to keep the nuclear issue separate from the election crisis, since the EU and the US will most likely need to speak to an Ahmadinejad government "whether we like it or not." The GOC still supports engagement with Iran and believes that further sanctions against Tehran should come from the UNSC, rather than the EU, to avoid falling into the "Iran vs. The West" paradigm perpetuated by Tehran. ¶2. (C) Moving onto Somalia, the GOC is in agreement with reftel points. Panayiotou noted the extensive EU role in anti-piracy efforts off the coast of Somalia and stated that the situation at sea cannot be separated from the situation on land. Panayiotou said the EU feels a sense of urgency on the issue, and he was confident that the EU would seek to increase its engagement in Somalia, possibly through greater training of security forces. However, Panayiotou said this does not necessarily mean any concrete steps will be taken at the July GAERC. He refrained from commenting on the possibility of increased financial support for AMISOM or the TFG. ¶3. (C) On the issue of Georgia, Panayiotou reiterated previous GOC comments on a possible US role in EUMM (see ref b) and expects a clearer picture of the framework for the discussion following the July GAERC. Urbancic