AMBASSADOR TALKS CLIMATE, GUANTANAMO WITH SWEDISH

C O N F I D E N T I A L STOCKHOLM 000576 E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/10/2019 TAGS: PHUM SENV PREL SW SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR TALKS CLIMATE, GUANTANAMO WITH SWEDISH NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR Classified By: Ambassador Matthew Barzun, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Summary: On September 2, the Prime Minister's State Secretary for Foreign and EU Affairs Gustaf Lind told the Ambassador that Prime Minister Reinfeldt was looking forward to his visit to Washington for the U.S.-EU Summit and that Reinfeldt hoped for meetings that would favor substance over ceremony, with a focus on the financial crisis and climate change. The Ambassador suggested a low-key public affairs strategy on climate change to lower expectations. On the possibility of Sweden accepting Guantanamo detainees, Lind indicated it was a matter of time before the "right alignment" in the Swedish bureaucracy would come about; Migration Minister Billstrom would remain the lead for the Government of Sweden on this issue. End Summary. U.S. -EU Summit -------------- ¶2. (C) Lind stated that Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt was looking forward to his visit to Washington for the early November summit. The Prime Minister also hoped for a short bilateral meeting with the President. Reinfeldt would work for a summit that favors substance over ceremony, with a focus on the financial crisis and climate change. The European Commission was pushing for many other items to be included in the U.S.-EU talks; Sweden planned to put those items at the end of the agenda so they would "never be discussed." Climate Change -------------- ¶3. (C) Lind said he was familiar with U.S. politics surrounding the climate change issue, and he understood that the Waxman-Markey bill still had to go through the Senate, where it would likely get changed. Still, if the U.S. and EU could "agree to something" at the summit meeting in Washington in early November, it would be helpful before EU leaders went to New Delhi for the EU-India Summit November 5-6. It would also be helpful to the United States to have something in hand before the APEC Summit later in November, Lind said. The Ambassador suggested a low-key public affairs strategy on climate change to lower expectations. Guantanamo -------------- ¶4. (C) On the possibility of Sweden accepting Guantanamo detainees for resettlement, Lind said that it was "just a matter of timing." Asked whether the U.S. was using the right approach in getting the Swedes to consider this matter, Lind noted that Migration Minister Tobias Billstrom could not be "worked around." Although the independent Swedish Migration Board is the only entity that can make a decision on resettling a specific individual in Sweden, Billstrom would remain the most appropriate point of contact for U.S. officials working on this issue. Without going into details, Lind commented that "things were beginning to shift" within the Swedish bureaucracy and that the USG should "wait for the right alignment." BARZUN