FRANCE CONCERNED ABOUT LACK OF SUBSTANCE FOR

C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 001541

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/19/2019
TAGS: PREL OSCE FR
SUBJECT: FRANCE CONCERNED ABOUT LACK OF SUBSTANCE FOR
UPCOMING OSCE MINISTERIAL

Classified By: Political Counselor Andrew Young For reasons 1.4(b) and
(d).


1. (U) This is an action request - please see paragraph 5.


2. (C) Summary. During a November 19 meeting with the
Political Counselor, Patrick Maisonnave, Director for
Strategic Affairs at the MFA, expressed concern that
preparations for the December OSCE ministerial in Athens were
not going well. While noting that the draft political
declaration was still in the early stages, he said that it is
very raw, vague and needs to be more substantive. He
claimed, "If our objective is to restore confidence in the
OSCE as a central part of the process in ensuring European
security, we haven't succeeded." Maisonnave further said
that Paris is increasingly concerned that we will be
participating in a "ministerial for nothing." He raised
worries that the OSCE is "bogged down" in the Corfu process
and the Washington position against discussing the
Conventional Forces in Europe treaty (CFE) is resulting in a
lack of concrete substance for engagement. He urged that we
re-start discussion on CFE in the coming year and advocated
for the USG to reconsider its position opposed to having a
2010 OSCE summit. Maisonnave noted that a summit deadline
could give needed momentum to make progress on these
important issues at the working level, thus turning the
summit into a worthwhile endeavor. End Summary.


3. (C) Maisonnave opened the meeting with a message of
concern over on-going preparations for the December OSCE
ministerial meeting. Despite the USG proposals for the Human
Dimension and the French non-paper recently circulated, Paris
is worried that the lack of concrete subjects for the planned
political declaration will render the meeting meaningless.
In particular, he expressed the view that the Corfu process
is "bogged down" over hesitations to address the many
difficult issues. Maisonnave agreed that the Human Dimension
is an important part of the OSCE, but added that the priority
issue remains security. Further, Russian threats against the
U.S. position on the Vienna document have caused us to lose
progress. This is a worrisome development, because this was
the first time in two years that Russia had presented a
reasonable proposal. Maisonnave recalled that allies did not
take Russia seriously when Moscow first raised concerns about
the CFE treaty, and it resulted in Russia suspending
compliance. He claimed that we risked repeating the same
scenario. Maisonnave noted that some of the current
negotiating difficulties were traditional "Russian
manoeuvres" but that the allies were NOW getting boxed in
without achieving results. He claimed that Paris wanted to
re-open dialogue to move the progress forward.


4. (C) On CFE, Maisonnave said that everyone recognizes the
importance of the current treaty impasse with Russia. Paris
is convinced that we must re-launch discussions about the
future of the CFE in the coming year (while fully recognizing
the U.S. priority to conclude a new START agreement first.)
He observed that Washington is unwilling to give up on the
1999 Istanbul Commitments made by Russia. He asked that we
reconsider this position in light of the fact that it has
been 10 years and the world has changed since those
commitments were originally made. Paris thinks it is
worthwhile to start discussing the substance of CFE again,
perhaps first with other allies and then with Russia.
Maisonnave agreed that the OSCE should not have a summit next
year "just to have a summit." On the other hand, he argued
that a summit could be made legitimate and substantive. With
the Corfu process bogged down, a summit deadline would
stimulate momentum for progress. He suggested that we push
for a result first, and then see if a summit is merited,
rather than closing off the idea entirely. Maisonnave also
suggested that the OSCE could consider an "informal" meeting
as well.


5. (C) Comment and action request. Maisonnave delivered a
well-developed French position on a number of looming OSCE
issues that clearly have significant points of divergence
with U.S. views. Post urges that we quickly engage in
bilateral consultations to help get the GOF back on track
before the ministerial. Post recommends either a high-level
visit to discuss these issues in greater detail, or requests
substantive guidance so that we can better articulate the
reasons underpinning our positions to the French. End
comment.

PEKALA