This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 001455 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/06/2016 
TAGS: PREL PGOV FR PO EUN
SUBJECT: FRENCH VISIT OF POLISH PRESIDENT, FEBRUARY 24, 2006 
 
REF: WARSAW 312 
 
Classified By: Political Minister Counselor Josiah Rosenblatt for reaso 
ns 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
 ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: President Chirac and Prime Minister de 
Villepin received Polish President Lech Kaczynski on February 
24 for his first visit to France since taking office.  Chirac 
and Kaczynski discussed the future of the Weimar Triangle and 
the European constitutional treaty, and Chirac told Kaczynski 
that France prefers to handle European energy security in the 
context of the EU (in contrast to the plan (reftel), 
presented by Polish PM Marcinkiewicz, to do so in combination 
with NATO).  The two sides will meet again April 3, when 
Marcinkiewicz comes to Paris to meet with Villepin; later in 
the spring, when the second intergovernmental conference will 
occur in Poland; and at an as-yet undetermined date in 
Germany for the Weimar Triangle, which this year will be at 
head-of-state level.  The French MFA characterized the 
current utility of the Weimar Triangle as a vehicle to 
"channel" the Poles on Ukraine (i.e., to rein in their 
promises to Ukraine of eventual EU membership) and believes 
that France will "have" to do something to allow at least 
some Polish workers to come work in France, a subject to be 
tackled further during Marcinkiewicz's April visit. 
Kaczynski also met with former president Valery Giscard 
d'Estaing and former foreign minister Hubert Vedrine before 
heading back to Warsaw the same evening.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (C)  In an interview he gave to AFP before coming to 
Paris, Kaczynski questioned the utility of the Weimar 
Triangle, which celebrates its 15th anniversary this year. 
Speaking of the vehicle for Franco-German-Polish dialogue, 
Kaczynski said he would insist to Chirac and Villepin that 
the group's role be clearly defined.  "I am ready to accept 
any sort of formula," he said, "But I can not act in the name 
of the other Central European countries without a clear and 
precise mandate from those countries."  In addition, the 
Polish president noted his frustration with the French 
caricature of the Poles as a nation of plumbers.  Noting that 
Poland is also a country of lawyers, people who speak foreign 
languages, software engineers, and mathematicians, he said, 
"I would prefer that my country be known also for this." 
 
¶3. (C)  According to the Presidential spokesman and Vincent 
Muller, the MFA desk officer for Poland, the two presidents 
dealt mostly with European issues, leaving bilateral 
questions for Kaczynski to discuss with PM de Villepin.  In 
response to Kaczynski's presentation of the draft energy 
policy presented by Polish PM Marcinkiewicz (ref A), Chirac 
told Kaczynski that energy policy should be dealt with within 
an EU, not a NATO, framework. (NOTE: At the January 24 ECOFIN 
meeting, Finance and Economy Minister Thierry Breton 
presented a French plan "For a Relaunch of the European 
Energy Policy In a Perspective of Sustainable Development," 
which Chirac considers to be the basis for the discussions on 
the topic at this month's European Council.  END NOTE.)  Our 
Polish embassy contact dryly described Chirac as "annoyed" 
with Kaczynski for the Polish proposal.  Chirac also 
underlined his emphasis on the "Europe of Projects," which he 
sees as a way to move Europe forward during the current 
period of uncertainty.  With regard to the future of the 
constitutional treaty, Chirac repeated his belief that it is 
essential to focus on modernizing European institutions so 
that they are equipped to deal with an enlarged EU. 
 
¶4. (C) Turning to the meeting with PM de Villepin, Muller 
said that the encounter was important because "political 
changes" in Poland (NOTE: the coming to power of the rightist 
Law and Justice party, and especially its reliance on 
Self-Defense and the League of Polish Families) had given 
rise in France to a "certain unease" about the new 
government's intentions.  Muller said that given the 
potential mistrust between the two governments, the French 
felt the need to "intensify the dialogue."  Muller said that 
the French had noted the order in which Kaczynski had made 
his visits -- first "to the tomb of John Paul II," then 
Washington and Brussels, and finally Paris before Berlin. 
 
¶5. (C) Villepin and Kaczynski discussed bilateral relations, 
in particular economic issues, according to Muller.  Other 
topics were the opening of the French labor market to Polish 
workers, the future of the CAP, and Polish-Ukrainian and 
Polish-Russian relations. 
 
¶6. (C) On the question of access by Polish workers to the 
French labor market, Muller said that the French MFA believes 
France "must" do something, even if it is symbolic.  The 
problem, he said, is that the deadline for the EU-15 states 
to decide whether they will lift the curbs or continue them 
for two more years is May 1.  He said, "We could do it with 
no problem if it were August 1, when everyone is on vacation" 
and the move could escape the notice of public opinion.  He 
went on to say that he believes the two sides will come to 
agreement on at least some small opening during the April 3 
visit of PM Marcinkiewicz, although he declined to provide 
specifics. 
 
¶7. (C)  When asked what the French made of Kaczynski's 
pre-visit comments questioning the utility of the Weimar 
Triangle, Muller said the purpose of the grouping was 
changing.  France feels the need to "channel" Poland's 
outreach to Ukraine and rein in the Poles'  efforts to give 
EU candidate status and eventual membership to Ukraine. 
 
¶8. (C) COMMENT:  While French and Polish authorities have 
found common ground on some recent issues (most notably 
during the December EU budget negotiations), there remain 
other arenas where differences remain -- from a French 
perspective, Poland remains too pro-NATO and pro-U.S., and 
its recent hold-out on agreeing to extend diminished VAT 
rates for certain industries and services in Western European 
countries infuriated the French.  The French have a strategic 
interest in better relations with the largest of the new 
Central and East European states (and the EU's sixth-largest 
member), in part also to ensure that Germany does not develop 
its relations with Poland at the expense of France.  France 
also has significant and growing commercial interests, as the 
largest source of foreign investment in Poland.  At the same 
time, the French seem to have some difficutly relating to the 
Poles, especially to a government of the conservative, 
religious right.  In addition, the stated French approach to 
the Weimar Triangle appears to betray a fundamental 
misunderstanding of the Poles' position on Ukraine.  END 
COMMENT 
 
 
Please visit Paris' Classified Website at: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm 
 
Stapleton