LATVIA: ENGAGING MEP'S ON TERRORIST FINANCE

C O N F I D E N T I A L RIGA 000066 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/09/2020 TAGS: PTER PGOV EFIN PREL EU LG SUBJECT: LATVIA: ENGAGING MEP'S ON TERRORIST FINANCE REF: JONES-ROGERS E-MAIL FEBRUARY 5 Classified By: POLCOUNS BRIAN PHIPPS, REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D) ¶1. (C) Summary: The Government of Latvia supports sustenance of the existing Terrorist Finance Tracking Program (TFTP). As instructed in ref email, we reached out to Latvian MEP's with whom we have close relations from both the governing coalition and the opposition. Of Latvia's nine MEP's, we believe six will support TFTP and three will oppose it. The MEP's and staffers with whom we spoke greatly appreciated our engagement on this issue. ¶2. (C) The office of MEP Sandra Kalniete assured us February 8 that Kalniete had decided to vote in favor of the existing TFTP and that she would encourage both her three Latvian colleagues within the European People's Party (EPP),as well as others, to support the TFTP. MEP Ivars Godmanis, Latvia's first post-independence Prime Minister, of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE),told us that he was strongly inclined to vote against TFTP, and that his ALDE colleagues were largely opposed to our position. We stressed that we could use the remaining months of the agreement to address European privacy concerns. We argued that a sudden suspension of the agreement would put the citizens of Europe and America at greater risk of terrorist attack, and urged Godmanis to exercise the statesmanship he had shown so often in the past to sway key liberal opinion in favor of a precautionary position, allowing time to improve the successor agreement. Godmanis appreciated these arguments, indicated that he had been convinced, and undertook to use our points in engagement with his fellow ALDE party members. ¶3. (C) On February 9, we conveyed similar points to the staff of European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) MEP Roberts Zile, who is likely to support the TFTP. Latvia's three left-wing MEP's are highly unlikely to support TFTP and we judge that it would be counterproductive to engage them. GARBER