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