(C) FAC AND CHINA ARMS EMBARGO DEMARCHES DELIVERED

C O N F I D E N T I A L COPENHAGEN 000095 SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/ERA, EAP/CM, PM/RSAT, ISN/RA STATE FOR NEA/IR, EUR/UMB, EUR/NB, WHA E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/18/2020 TAGS: PREL PARM PHUM KNUC ETTC EAID CH IR UP HA SUBJECT: (C) FAC AND CHINA ARMS EMBARGO DEMARCHES DELIVERED REF: A. STATE 13969 ¶B. EMAIL KONICK-BELL 2/17/2010 Classified By: Ambassador Laurie S. Fulton; reason 1.4 (b, d) (C) A/DCM delivered ref A demarche and the talking points for the upcoming EU Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) February 18 to MFA acting European Correspondent Mercan Nielsen. Nielsen took note of the China points but had no substantive response. On the FAC points, she offered the following responses: - On Iran, Denmark will press the EU to be "more firm" in the face of the Iranian regime's "unacceptable" behavior. Dialogue is the preferred option but "it's not working." The international community needs to find a way to support the Iranian people's right to freedom of expression, but "we are not talking about regime-change." The EU needs to prepare to act but does not want to get ahead of the UNSC process for fear of undercutting it. - On Ukraine, Denmark agrees with the USG position. It does not/not interpret the election of Yanukovych to mean that Ukraine is choosing to side with Russia against the West. - On Haiti, the discussion will be about drawing lessons from the disaster response effort, so as to be more effective in future cases. - Italy and Malta want to add Libya to the agenda because of its visa restrictions. Given that the EU already has a visa regime in place for Libya, the only outcome is expected to be a political statement. FULTON