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DE RUEHRL #1132/01 2541958
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O 111958Z SEP 09
FM AMEMBASSY BERLIN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5182
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO PRIORITY 0059
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0852

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BERLIN 001132 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/11/2019 
TAGS: PREL EUN EAID PHUM ETRD AF PK GM CE ZJ
SUBJECT: GERMAN VIEWS ON SEPTEMBER 14-15 GAERC 
 
REF: A. 9/4 EUR/ERA E-MAIL 
     ¶B. STATE 92641 
 
Classified By: POLITICAL-MILITARY/EXTERNAL CHIEF BILL MOELLER. REASONS: 
 1.4 (B) AND (D). 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY.  Germany shares the U.S. assessment of the 
situation of IDPs in Sri Lanka and the need to act quickly, 
but notes that the EU Council is currently not on track to 
take action until October.   While agreeing that the EU 
should enhance its trade and investment with Georgia, Armenia 
and Azerbaijan, Germany argues that it is still too early for 
negotiations on new agreements; the 133 Committee first needs 
to examine what is possible.  On EU AF/PAK projects, Germany 
believes the priorities should be supporting rule of law and 
governance, fully staffing the EU Police Mission (EUPOL), 
assisting with the 2010 Afghan parliamentary elections and 
facilitating regional cooperation.  Germany will not abandon 
its commitment to provide 120 police and rule-of-law experts 
to EUPOL, but this will not happen soon since Germany is 
giving priority to providing police for the U.S.-led focused 
district development (FDD) police training program.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (C) PolOff discussed ref A points on the Caucasus and the 
ref B demarche on Sri Lankan IDPs with MFA Deputy European 
Corespondent Angela Ganniger on September 10. 
 
CHANGED FORMAT 
 
¶3. (C) Ganninger noted that the Swedish EU presidency was 
changing the normal schedule of GAERC, with general affairs 
being handled on Monday afternoon (September 14) and external 
relations on Tuesday morning (September 15).  Iran is 
scheduled to be the subject of the Monday night dinner. 
Ganninger expressed doubts about whether spreading the GAERC 
out over two days would prove feasible, given how busy EU 
foreign ministers were.  She noted, for example, that FM 
Steinmeier would have to miss the general affairs portion of 
the meeting on Monday; Germany will be represented by Europe 
State Minister Guenter Gloser. 
 
SRI LANKA 
 
¶4. (C) Ganninger said Germany shared the U.S. assessment of 
the situation of IDPs (ref B) and agreed that urgent action 
was necessary to encourage the government to allow freedom of 
movement.  She reported that MFA had provided 3.2 million 
Euros in humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka so far in 2009, 
while the Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development 
had committed 2 million Euros in emergency food aid and 5 
million Euros for reconstruction and housing assistance. 
Ganninger promised to pass along our points to the MFA Sri 
Lanka desk officer, who would be able to give more 
information on what Germany planned to do on a bilateral 
basis.  (Post will follow up and provide a read-out septel.) 
 
 
¶5. (C) As far as EU action was concerned, Ganninger said the 
first step was to figure out exactly what levers the EU had 
vis-a-vis Sri Lanka and which should be used in exerting 
pressure to resolve the IDP situation.  She said the plan was 
for EU experts to meet in September to formulate options and 
recommendations, in preparation for an EU Council decision in 
October.  Drawing on Ref B, PolOff underscored the necessity 
of getting results by the end of September, before the onset 
of the monsoon season, and urged Germany to push for 
accelerated EU action. 
 
CAUCASUS 
 
¶6. (C) While agreeing that the EU should enhance its trade 
and investment with Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, 
Ganninger argued it was still too early for negotiations on 
new agreements.  The 133 Committee first needed to examine 
what was possible.  Ganninger emphasized that EU trade 
concessions would have to be matched by concrete commitments 
to reform by the three countries.  Ganninger also volunteered 
that the EU would have to examine in the coming months how to 
adapt the EU Monitoring Mission (EUMM) in Georgia, now that 
the OSCE mission and UN Observer Mission (UNOMIG) were gone. 
Similarly, the EU had to look at whether it still made sense 
to have an EU special representative for the South Caucasus 
(Peter Semneby) as well as a separate special representative 
for Georgia (Pierre Morel). 
 
AFGHANISTAN/PAKISTAN 
 
¶7. (C) Ganninger said the goal was to have agreement on an 
action plan of EU projects in Afghanistan/Pakistan by 
October.  She identified the priorities as supporting rule of 
 
BERLIN 00001132  002 OF 002 
 
 
law and governance, staffing the EU Police Mission (EUPOL) up 
to the end goal of 400, assisting with the 2010 Afghan 
parliamentary elections and facilitating regional 
cooperation.  On EUPOL, she said that Germany would not 
abandon its previous commitment to provide 120 police and 
rule-of-law specialists.  However, the reality was that it 
would difficult to meet the 120-person commitment for EUPOL 
any time soon, given that the priority now was on providing 
police to the U.S.-led focused district development (FDD) 
police training program.  Ganninger said that as EUPOL grows 
toward the 400 target, Germany will strive to provide at 
least 20 percent of the total force. 
Murphy