FRENCH VIEWS IN ADVANCE OF THE NATO MINISTERIAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 PARIS 001544

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/20/2019
TAGS: PREL NATO MOPS FR AF
SUBJECT: FRENCH VIEWS IN ADVANCE OF THE NATO MINISTERIAL

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Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Kathleen Allegrone for reas
ons 1.4(b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary. Two weeks out from the NATO summit, post
met with French officials to discuss leading issues in
advance of the December 3-4 NATO ministerial meeting. Our
French interlocutors included Patrick Maisonnave, Strategic
Affairs Director at the MFA; Muriel Domenech, MFA
DAS-equivalent for NATO Affairs and Francois Delmas,
Specialist on Afghanistan deployments in the MFA Af-Pak cell.
Our interlocutors reported that France agrees in principle
with the U.S. missile defense objectives, but remains
concerned about the question of financing. Paris does not
want to go too far in approving an MD system for NATO until
they have further information about the size and cost of our
proposal. France remains opposed to using NATO common
funding for AIR support and maintenance for the planned AWACS
deployment to the UAE; they are willing to consider other
options but understand that the UK has now halted
consideration of its AWACS offer. On Afghanistan, Paris
awaits the U.S. strategy roll-out and hopes we will consult
closely with Allies. French officials support the proposed
January 28 conference in London to discuss civilian
assistance, but believe we must clarify the agenda, timing
and sequence -- specifically whether we are still pushing for
a pre-conference in Kabul. They said the conference should
focus on improved coordination of civilian assistance in
Afghanistan, but France wants the UN to continue to play a
major role. France fully agrees with giving MAP to
Montenegro in December, but waiting for Bosnia to complete
necessary reforms. Finally, our French interlocutors
inquired whether the U.S. wants to include a statement on the
need for NATO reform in the ministerial communique. On EGF,
French gendarmes are still scheduled to fully deploy by
December 1 and Paris is waiting for the NTM-A FORCE
generation conference to finalize different country
contributions. End Summary.

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MISSILE DEFENSE: SHOW ME THE MONEY!
--------------


2. (C) The official French position on U.S. missile defense
proposals is unchanged. French officials have repeatedly
assured us that the GOF supports MD "in principle" as
demonstrated by President Sarkozy's statement of support
after the announcement of the new Phased Adaptive Approach.
We raised SecDef Gates "4-points" for inclusion in the
December ministerial communique with Maisonnave and Domenech
on November 19. Both stressed that we have French support on
a political level, but they have lingering questions about
the cost of the proposed system and the use of NATO common
funding to finance it. Domenech cautioned that it is too
early in the process for Paris to have a firm position, as
Allies still do not have specifics as to the architecture of
how our system would interact with NATO's ALTBMD. For
example, Domenech said that if Washington is merely proposing
an upgrade to AIR defense systems, rather than something more
substantial, that will affect the final French position. By
raising these questions now, French officials hope to get the
necessary information for a more informed decision by Allies
at the 2010 Lisbon summit. They are cautious about making
statements that are too proactive now, because it risks
raising expectations that won't be fulfilled. The GOF does
not want to end up in a circular argument where the U.S.
claims that NATO agreed to support our MD systems but then
balks at paying for it, while France or other allies says
they only agreed to supportive language but didn't commit to
the associated costs.

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AWACS IMPASSE GROWING
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3. (C) Maisonnave and Domenech reported that no solution has
been found to the financing questions raised over the
proposed AWACS deployment to the UAE. French officials
insist that they are acting on principle and are not against
the deployment itself. According to Domenech, the problem
arose over a difference of understanding of the baseline
agreement: the UK believed that AIR servicing and maintenance
costs would be covered as this is a overseas deployment from
the UAE, whereas France is firm that maintenance and support
costs should not come from NATO common funding. The NATO
Secretary-General has proposed an alternative option in which
only the NATO countries with AWACS would share the funding
amongst themselves in an effort to move the process forward.
However, Domenech reported that Paris officials now
understand that the UK Defense Minister has now halted

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consideration of the UK AWACS proposal, so the issue may
remain at an impasse. (COMMENT: Post defers to USNATO for
the latest developments on this issue)

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AFGHANISTAN CONFERENCE AND CIVILIAN ASSISTANCE
-------------- -


4. (C) Maisonnave informed us that the GOF supports the
proposed conference in London on Afghanistan in January, and
he understood from the French readout of the recent Quad
discussion that the USG is supportive as well. He said that
the international community must now clarify the agenda and
sequence of the meeting, in particular deciding whether there
will still be some kind of pre-meeting in Kabul as the
Afghans had desired. Maisonnave further stated that the
London conference should have as its focus the question of
improving coordination of civilian assistance. He cited
German concerns about weakening UNAMA and noted the various
proposals under consideration in Washington to address the
problems. He stated that France needs for the UN to continue
to play a major role in any solution. Specifically, he
cautioned against an attempt to subsume the civilian
assistance coordination within ISAF, saying that could render
the coordination even more complex. On the other hand,
Maisonnave agreed that there are problems with the current
system that must be addressed and the GOF is willing to
consider other candidates to succeed Kai Eide when his
mandate ends in March 2010. Maisonnave also inquired about
the expected roll-out date of the USG decision on
supplementary troops for Afghanistan and expressed the hope
that Allies will have an opportunity to consult with us and
review the new plan before making additional commitments of
their own.

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MAP AND NATO REFORM
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5. (C) Maisonnave stated that France fully agrees with
Washington's position in favor of granting MAP to Montenegro
in December, and waiting to take action on Bosnia and
Herzegovina until it has made progress on necessary
constitutional reforms. Maisonnave also inquired as to
whether the USG was interested in including a mention of NATO
reform in the ministerial communique. He noted that a few
phrases on the objectives of the reform could be a worthy
addition to the statement.

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EGF: TWO STEPS FORWARD AND ONE TO THE SIDE
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6. (C) In a separate meeting with Francois Delmas from the
MFA Af-Pak cell, Delmas said that the rest of the 150 French
gendarmes will be deployed to Afghanistan on December 1 as
part of the European Gendarmerie FORCE (EGF). They are
expected to join their approximately 30 colleagues currently
on the ground in Masar-e-Sharif who are engaged in ANCOP
training. Delmas said that France is still in discussions
with other countries about police training contributions and
listed the following possibilities (in addition to the 200
Italian carabinieri who are part of the EGF): Poland (10);
Spain (40),Lithuania (2),with the Netherlands, Romania and
Turkey still considering options. Delmas said that while the
Lithuanians would definitely join EGF, the other country
contributions could fall under either CSTC-A or EGF, and he
expected that the situation would not be clarified until the
NTM-A FORCE generation meeting. As for finding a base for
the EGF headquarters, Delmas said that the GOF was
pessimistic that a deal could be worked out to use Camp
Invicta, since it would require an agreement for the Afghan
MOD to turn over its portion of the camp to the MOI which is
responsible for police training. Expecting it to be the
subject of long interagency battle, France is considering
other sites, including one in Wardak, to locate the EGF base.


7. (C) Comment. On many of the above topics -- MAP, NATO
reform, Afghanistan -- France remains fairly close to U.S.
positions in the lead up to the December ministerial. While
the GOF has long affirmed opposition to spending additional
funds on MD, Post is hopeful that Paris will be able to
support the USG language on MD, perhaps with some additional
consultation or minor negotiating over specific language.
However, the French position on AWACS deployment appears firm
and we see little hope of budging Paris from what it
considers its "principled" position on financing. Post
welcomes any additional guidance on planning for the London
conference on Afghanistan, particularly on our proposed

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agenda and whether we continue to support holding some kind
of pre-meeting in Kabul. End comment.
PEKALA