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C O N F I D E N T I A L        BERLIN 01993

SIPDIS
CXBERLIN:
    ACTION: POL
    INFO:   JIS DAO CHRON DCM FAS DAOBONN PAO ECON AMB
CX2BERLN:
    ACTION: POL
    INFO:   JIS DAO CHRON DCM FAS DAOBONN PAO ECON AMB

DISSEMINATION: POL
CHARGE: PROG

APPROVED: POL:MMARTIN
DRAFTED: POL:BMCCUEN
CLEARED: ECON: DORTBLAD

VZCZCRLI328
PP RUEHC RUCNMEM
DE RUEHRL #1993/01 1951541
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 141541Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY BERLIN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4220
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BERLIN 001993 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/14/2016 
TAGS: PREL PGOV EU GM
SUBJECT: POLITICAL GOALS OF THE GERMAN EU PRESIDENCY 
 
REF: BERLIN 1651 
 
Classified By: Acting POL Counselor Mike Martin for reasons 1.4 (B) and 
 (D). 
 
¶1.  (C) (Summary) According to our contacts, the Germans have 
identified four main political goals to pursue during their 
EU presidency next year.  They hope to create a new EU 
neighborhood policy that encourages countries of the former 
Soviet Union such as Ukraine and Georgia to pursue reforms 
during a period when they do not have a realistic prospect of 
EU membership.   The Germans will also focus on a new 
agreement to regulate relations between the EU and Russia 
(the existing 10 year agreement expires next year).  A third 
goal will be to strengthen the EU's ties with Central Asia. 
In addition, the Germans hope the EU can achieve consensus 
during their presidency on a roadmap that will lead to 
ratification of an EU constitution by 2009.  The Germans are 
also looking at initiatives on the economic, environmental, 
energy, and justice/counter-terrorism fronts.  (End Summary) 
 
Neighborhood Policy 
 
¶2.  (C)  Poloffs met with Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut, Deputy 
Director General for European Affairs at the Chancellery, 
Thomas Schieb, Deputy European Correspondent at the Ministry 
of Foreign Affairs, and other contacts in government and 
think tanks to discuss Germany's goals for its EU presidency. 
 A thread running through all these discussions was the 
Germans' desire to re-energize the EU's neighborhood policy, 
with particular emphasis on the former Soviet republics in 
Eastern Europe and the Caucasus.  Our contacts pointed to 
Chancellor Merkel's major speeches on the EU, where she 
consistently noted the limited possibilities for EU 
enlargement at this time.  Given the unlikelihood of EU 
expansion eastward in the near future, the Germans view a new 
neighborhood policy as necessary to sustain the reform 
process in these countries.  Chancellor Merkel has promised 
that this neighborhood policy would constitute more than just 
a free trade relationship.  In an EU policy speech, she 
pledged the neighborhood policy would offer participation in 
the EU economy nearly equivalent to that of member states, 
but without a decision making voice. 
 
Central Asia 
 
¶3.  (C) When asked if this new neighborhood policy would 
extend to the Central Asian republics, Chancellery and MFA 
contacts say this is unlikely.  But they add that Germany 
wants to use its presidency to strengthen the EU's relations 
with the countries of Central Asia, to help them look 
westward and make clear to them that they have alternatives 
to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.  A meeting at the 
foreign minister level between Germany and the five Central 
Asian republics is currently being planned for spring of 
¶2007.  According to contacts at German foundations with close 
ties to the government, the dialogue is likely to focus on 
natural resources (energy security and water distribution), 
organized crime, political liberalization, and free trade. 
The EU will likely offer aid to fight narcotics trafficking, 
strengthen the rule of law, resolve border issues, and 
enhance press freedom. 
 
Russia 
 
¶4.  (C) The EU will also negotiate a new Partnership and 
Cooperation Agreement (PCA) with Russia during the German 
presidency.  The current ten year agreement, which forms the 
overall basis for EU relations with Russia, runs out at the 
end of 2007.  While the current agreement could be extended 
year by year, the Germans feel that an entirely new agreement 
is necessary that reflects the vast changes experienced by 
both the EU and Russia since 1997.  Germany will seek to 
include a pact on EU-Russia energy cooperation in the PCA, 
which would address access to energy markets and resources 
(similar to the Energy Charter that Russia decided not to 
ratify).  Our contacts stress that obtaining consensus within 
the EU on the proper approach to Russia will not be easy. 
Negotiations with the Russians will also be extremely 
difficult, and the Germans do not expect a final agreement to 
be signed until late-2007, during the Portuguese presidency. 
 
EU Constitution 
 
¶5.  (C) The Germans hope they can find a way during their 
presidency to achieve consensus on moving forward with the EU 
constitution.  To relaunch the ratification process, Germany 
will host an informal EU summit in Berlin on March 25th that 
will commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Treaty of 
Rome.  The leaders at this summit are expected to sign a 
political declaration on European values, which is being 
likened to a new EU statement of purpose.  This would be 
followed by the regular June summit in Brussels where Germany 
hopes to present an agreed roadmap to complete ratification 
of the constitution by 2009.  Our contacts maintain that 
"cherry-picking" a few pieces of the existing constitution 
will not work.  However, Chancellery official Meyer-Landrut 
suggested they might have to reconfigure the constitution to 
ensure it can be ratified.  While he was vague on this topic, 
other government contacts have suggested this might mean 
focusing on the fundamental rights and institutional 
arrangements discussed in the first two sections of the 
constitution, and dropping the third section, which has the 
longest and most detailed list of required institutional 
changes. 
TIMKEN JR