ITALY UNWILLING TO TAKE A POSITION ON FAO BUDGET

UNCLAS ROME 001206 SENSITIVE SIPDIS IO: FOR JOHN TUMINARO E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: FAO EFIN AORC EAGR EAID KUNR UN SUBJECT: ITALY UNWILLING TO TAKE A POSITION ON FAO BUDGET DISPUTE, DUE TO HOST GOVERNMENT CONCERNS REF: SECSTATE 96467 ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The GOI will not/not divulge their position on the proposed Food and Agriculture Organization FAO budget increase because the FAO'S location in Rome, according to GOI officials, renders the situation "delicate" A senior GOI foreign assistance official said the GOI supports some aspects of the emerging European Union (EU) position on it, but likely will differ with the EU position on the overall budget increase level. END SUMMARY ¶2. (SBU) Post on October 5 conveyed to a senior official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) the USG's opposition to the FAO budget increase and our request to the GOI to likewise oppose it (reftel). Repeated attempts to elicit a response were unsuccessful; the MFA referred us to the Italian Mission to the FAO for a substantive reply. We explained that we were asking the GOI to direct the Mission to oppose the budget increase. ¶3. (SBU) On October 29, MFA Counselor Mauro Massoni, the office director responsible for Italy's assistance to multilateral organizations, finally told ECONOFF that, "we are unwilling to state our position on this issue because of the delicacy of the situation." He further explained that, because the FAO is based in Rome, the GOI finds it awkward to publicly oppose the proposed budget increase. Our USUN colleagues have received the same explanation from the Italian Mission to the FAO. ¶4. (SBU) On November 2, Massoni shared with ECONOFF the results of the October 27 European Council FAO Coordination Working Party meeting. He said that while Italy supports some proposals in the EU Presidency options paper, such as those regarding medical coverage and retirement, Italy likely will differ with the proposals on the overall budget increase. ECONOFF has forwarded the EU meeting minutes to John Tuminaro in IO/HS. THORNE