CANADA IN STEP WITH U.S. IN ADVANCE OF OSCE CORFU

C O N F I D E N T I A L OTTAWA 000455 SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/RPM - G. RECINOS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/11/2019 TAGS: PREL NATO OSCE PGOV MARR CA SUBJECT: CANADA IN STEP WITH U.S. IN ADVANCE OF OSCE CORFU MINISTERIAL REF: STATE 57920 Classified By: PolMinCouns Scott Bellard, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade OSCE Senior Policy Advisor Jude Pecora expressed appreciation for reftel demarche on June 10 and noted that it "looks like the points (he) prepared for senior officials and the foreign minister." Pecora specified that Canadian and U.S. redlines for the upcoming OSCE informal ministerial in Corfu are "the same." Like the U.S., he added, Canada is pressing allies to agree that participants should work within existing institutions and commitments, and insist that Corfu marks the start of a dialogue on each of the three dimensions of security. ¶2. (C) Canada likely will raise the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Parallel Action Plan, and work to block "over-promises" that the Germans are proposing in response to Russian feelers, Pecora predicted. He commented that the onus will also be on the Russians to present the details of their many proposals. Pecora added that he had been "very pleasantly surprised" by a French non-paper on Corfu that tracked closely with Canadian and U.S. views and redlines. Visit Canada,s North American partnership community at http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/nap / BREESE