SWEDISH MFA STATE SECRETARY FRANK BELFRAGE ON USEU

C O N F I D E N T I A L STOCKHOLM 000649 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/13/2019 TAGS: PREL SENV PGOV IR SW SUBJECT: SWEDISH MFA STATE SECRETARY FRANK BELFRAGE ON USEU SUMMIT PREP: CLIMATE CHANGE AND IRAN REF: A. MULL-SILVERMAN EMAIL 10/08/09 ¶B. STATE 103219 Classified By: DCM Robert Silverman for reasons 1.4 (B) & (D). ¶1. (C) DCM discussed U.S.-EU Summit preparations and climate change with MFA State Secretary Frank Belfrage (DepSec equivalent) on October 13, two days before Belfrage's trip to Washington for talks with NSC and State counterparts. --Sweden still agreed with A/S Gordon's views expressed at the July EU PolDirs meeting that "we should nQ putQoo much energy into writing a lengthy summit declaration." Nonetheless, EU Member States had a lot to add to the draft declaration shared with them last week, especially on climate change. Member States are looking to add "more specificity," Belfrage said. (Belfrage is bringing Lars-Erik Liljelund, the PM's climate change advisor, to Washington for meetings this week.) -- The DCM replied that pending legislation currently being considered in the Senate was very good and would deliver a nearly twenty per cent cut by 2020, so he did not see the value in continuing to negotiate the U.S. position at this time. Rather, the U.S. and EU need to be united in our approach to China, which has not agreed to any legally binding treaty. Belfrage noted that the Chinese are saying they cannot do much unless the U.S. and EU first agree to substantive cuts. -- In any case, Belfrage continued, the EU had conditionally committed to moving to a 30% cut in the event a "good international agreement" had been reached. "Our dilemma now is how to define a good agreement," he said. The East Europeans are looking for anything they can use to be able to say there is not good agreement so that they will not have to implement a 30% cut. "We want to trigger our conditioned offer," he said. -- The DCM replied that it would be important to remember there will be a COP 16 and a COP 17. The message coming out of the Summit should therefore be that we are all working together to bring China onboard now. ¶2. (C) DCM noted that IRAN was also an agenda item for the Summit and raised ref B points, urging that Sweden push Tehran to comply with its international obligations. Belfrage stated that Sweden still wanted to see a new UN Security Council resolution authorizing sanctions. Belfrage welcomed a possible visit to Sweden by Special Advisor Stephen Mull (ref A),adding that it would be important for Foreign Minister Bildt to hear from Mull directly. BARZUN