EU TO ATTEND SOMALIA PIRACY CONTACT GROUP

C O N F I D E N T I A L USEU BRUSSELS 000012 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR PM/PPA DAVID GLANCY, DONNA HOPKINS, EVAN FOSTER E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/05/2019 TAGS: EWWT KCRM MOPS PBTS PHSA PTER EUN SUBJECT: EU TO ATTEND SOMALIA PIRACY CONTACT GROUP REF: A. SECSTATE 133199 ¶B. USEU BRUSSELS 1878 ¶C. USEU BRUSSELS 1565 Classified By: Pol M-C Christopher Davis for reasons 1.4(b) and (d). ¶1. (C) On December 23, PolOff delivered REF A invitation to the first meeting of the Contact Group on Somali Piracy (CGSP) to Didier Lenoir of the EU Council Secretariat. Lenoir confirmed on January 5 that he and Heli Pekka Heinonen, from the EU Military Staff, would attend the meeting in New York. He also said they intended to bring Joanne Hamer of the EU's operational headquarters to join the discussion. PolOff also solicited Lenoir's perspective on the proposed Agenda and draft Statement of Principles. Emphasizing that he was speaking only for himself and had not circulated the documents over the holidays, Lenoir expressed support for coordinating the work of the international community against piracy. He said this coordination should be flexible rather than "one size fits all," and should build upon existing actions and structures. He said the EU would focus its work on areas 1, 2 and 6 of the Statement of Principles (information sharing, military coordination, and public diplomacy). Prodding further, Lenoir questioned whether the CGSP should not also consider long term capacity building as one of its lines of action. Calling such capacity building the "only solution" in the long term, Lenoir recommended that the CGSP consider security sector reform or other training activities in regional states. SILVERBERG .