VZCZCXYZ0014
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTH #0362/01 0511154
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 201154Z FEB 07 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY ATHENS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8170
INFO RUCNCFE/CONVENTIONAL ARMED FORCES IN EUROPE PRIORITY
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 4614
RUEHNY/AMEMBASSY OSLO PRIORITY 0200

C O N F I D E N T I A L ATHENS 000362 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/20/2017 
TAGS: PARM PREL NATO KCFE GR
SUBJECT: CFE ENTITLEMENTS: GREEK COUNTER-PROPOSAL ON MOU 
 
REF: A. STATE 016790 
 
     ¶B. STATE 08647 
     ¶C. STATE 010667 
     ¶D. SECSTATE 19334 
 
Classified By: POLCOUNS ROBIN QUINVILLE.  REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D). 
 
¶1. (C) On February 20, DepPolCouns met with MFA D2 Deputy 
Director Chronis Polychroniou to discuss ref d points, which 
Embassy had delivered to Polychroniou's office last week 
during his absence.  Polychroniou provided a counter-proposal 
on the draft MOU, which he said the GoG would now prefer to 
call a "verbal note" (see text in para 4 below).  He 
explained this change was due to the need to avoid the 
drawn-out legal negotiations that a more formal MOU might 
entail. 
 
¶2. (C) Polychroniou was aware of the U.S. desire to conclude 
an agreement as soon as possible but said Greece would like 
to do so at the same time as Turkey and Norway, since Greece 
viewed the entitlement transfers as a "package."  DepPolCouns 
explained that, while the U.S. intended to continue 
negotiations with Turkey regarding additional ACVs, we wished 
to move to closure with all parties due to reporting 
requirements.  Polychroniou said he found it difficult to 
understand how the U.S. could finalize the issue at this 
point if it did not have all the entitlement transfers that 
the Pentagon had said were minimum requirements to conduct 
its training exercises in Romania and Bulgaria.  In any case, 
he noted, there was still time before the March deadline to 
continue discussions with Turkey. 
 
¶3. (C) Polychroniou mentioned that he would be at the next 
HLTF in Brussels in early March and would be available to 
discuss the issue further.  Finally, he requested that U.S. 
legal advisor Jeffrey Gibbs contact MFA legal advisor 
Stavridi directly if further discussion on wording issues 
were necessary. 
 
¶4. (SBU) BEGIN TEXT OF GREEK COUNTER-PROPOSAL: 
 
VERBAL NOTE   DRAFT 
 
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Hellenic Republic 
presents its compliments to the Embassy of the United States 
of America and with reference to the Treaty on Conventional 
Armed Forces in Europe of November 19, 1990, as amended by 
the Document of May 31, 1996, agreed among the States Parties 
to the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe of 
November 19, 1990, (hereinafter referred to as the &CFE 
Treaty8) and the request of the United States of America for 
the temporary transfer of a number of CFE entitlements to 
hold armaments and equipment limited by the CFE Treaty, has 
the honour to propose the following, which reflects 
consultations held between the Greek and American delegations 
in the course of 2006 and 2007: 
 
The Hellenic Republic, having considered in a positive spirit 
the request of the United States of America for the transfer 
of CFE Treaty flank zone entitlements in order to accommodate 
rotational activities of the armed forces of the United 
States of America at facilities in Romania and Bulgaria, is 
prepared to assist and to transfer the following number of 
CFE ground entitlements: 
 
40 battle tanks, 
91 armoured combat vehicles, and 
15 pieces of artillery 
 
The aforementioned entitlements are to be transferred under 
the following terms: 
 
¶1. The Hellenic Republic issues notifications under the CFE 
Treaty, thereby permitting the United States of America to 
hold the number of ground entitlements listed above in that 
portion of the area of application covered by Article V of 
the Treaty. 
 
¶2. The United States of America issues notifications under 
the CFE Treaty, thereby permitting the Hellenic Republic to 
hold for each category equal number of ground entitlements as 
listed above in that portion of the area of application 
covered by Article IV para 2 of the Treaty. 
 
¶3. The appropriate notifications are to be issued in a way 
that does not change the national maximum level of holdings, 
referred to in CFE Treaty Article VII, for either the 
Hellenic Republic or the United States of America.  The 
notifications are to be issued not later than ten days after 
completion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization approval 
process. 
 
¶4. These entitlements are exchanged on a temporary basis. 
The United States of America declares its willingness to 
return the entitlements when it has determined that it has no 
further need for them. 
 
¶5. The entitlements received by the United States of America 
may be transferred only on a temporary basis for training and 
exercises to other members of the North Atlantic Treaty 
Organization that are also members of the second or 
&western8 group of States Parties as defined in Article II, 
paragraph 1(A) of the CFE Treaty and are not situated in the 
flank zone of Article V of the CFE Treaty, in which case the 
original donor state is to be notified in advance. 
 
The entitlements received by the Hellenic Republic may be 
transferred only on a temporary basis for training and 
exercises to other members of the North Atlantic Treaty 
Organization that are also members of the second or 
&western8 group of the States Parties as defined in Article 
II, paragraph 1(A) of the CFE Treaty, in which case the 
original donor state is to be notified in advance. 
 
¶6. The Hellenic Republic and the United States of America 
commit to hold consultations in order to review the operation 
and the necessity of keeping in force this agreement within 
twenty-four (24) months from the date it becomes effective 
and thereafter once every year.  Consultations are also to 
take place upon the request of either government.  The 
request may be based upon any change in circumstances or 
events that causes the requesting government to conclude that 
consultations are necessary, including any desire to modify 
by mutual consent this agreement. 
 
¶7. The retransfer of the entitlements specified above is to 
take place before the entry into force of the Agreement on 
Adaptation of the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe, 
signed on November 19, 1999, in Istanbul.  Once that 
Agreement adapts the CFE Treaty, the United States of America 
does not require further use of the transferred entitlements. 
 The entitlements are to be returned during the ten-day 
period specified in paragraph 3 of Article 31 of the 
Agreement on Adaptation that is initiated through the 
acceptance by the Depositary of the last instrument of 
ratification necessary to bring the Agreement on Adaptation 
into force.  In such a case, both the Hellenic Republic and 
the United States of America are to issue appropriate 
notifications under the CFE Treaty so that the entitlements 
are returned within that same ten-day period. 
 
¶8. Either State may temporarily suspend or terminate at any 
time the application of this agreement whenever it considers 
that extraordinary circumstances so require.  Such 
termination or suspension or any withdrawal of the suspension 
shall be immediately notified to the other State in writing 
through diplomatic channels.  In such a case the entitlements 
are to be returned within 10 days from the date of 
notification of the termination of suspension and appropriate 
notifications are to be issued within that same ten-day 
period.  The same procedure for notifications shall be 
followed in case of withdrawal of the suspension. 
 
If the above is acceptable to the Embassy of the United 
States of America, then the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of 
the Hellenic Republic proposes that this note together with 
the affirmative note in reply of the Embassy of the United 
States of America constitute an agreement between the two 
States that becomes effective on the date of the reply note. 
(Athens, date) 
 
END TEXT OF GREEK COUNTER-PROPOSAL 
RIES