FRANCE'S APPROACH TO UNGA RESOLUTIONS WITH

C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 001540 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR IO/UNP AMORRISON E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/19/2029 TAGS: PREL PHUM PTER KPAL EUN IS FR SUBJECT: FRANCE'S APPROACH TO UNGA RESOLUTIONS WITH ANTI-ISRAEL BIAS IS SIMILAR TO LAST YEAR REF: STATE 118799 Classified By: Andrew Young, Political Counselor, reason 1.4 (b and d). ¶1. (C) Poloff discussed Reftel demarche on November 19 with MFA UN/IO officer Frederic Jung, who covers UNSC and UNGA Middle East issues. Jung noted that France's approach on these types of country-specific resolutions follows EU policy in that the 27 members consult internally for a consensus position and then the EU Presidency negotiates revisions to the resolutions' texts with the Palestinian delegation. He expected the EU member states to vote as a unified bloc. On the first eight resolutions, which Jung thought had already been tabled, he believed France would vote in favor of seven and abstain on one, which would be identical to its voting record last year, Jung said. He added that the internal EU consultations had begun only recently for the texts to be tabled during the plenary. ¶2. (C) According to Jung, France's supports country-specific texts, but France's goal, through the EU, is to achieve language that is balanced, corresponds to the actual situation on the ground, and contains neither "empty nor provocative words." ¶3. (C) On a personal note, Jung confided to Poloff that he would be departing Paris in about a month to join France's Mission to the UN where he will likely continue to work on Middle East issues. Post will endeavor to provide additional biographic information in the near future. PEKALA