VZCZCXRO1609
RR RUEHAG RUEHROV
DE RUEHHE #1131/01 3110907
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 070907Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY HELSINKI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2709
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 4702

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HELSINKI 001131 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/06/2016 
TAGS: PREL EUN PGOV ETRD ENRG PL FI RU
SUBJECT: EU-RUSSIA SUMMIT: PREPARATIONS UNDERWAY 
 
 
Classified By: POLCHIEF Gregory Thome for reasons 1.4(b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY: POLOFF on 6 November met with 
Finnish MFA Counselor for Russia Paivi Laine to 
discuss the Nov. 3 EU-Russia foreign affairs PPC and 
preparations for the EU-Russia summit on 24 
November.  The PPC had "gone well" and Northern 
Dimension preparations are "on track"; however, the 
Presidency is encountering difficulty preparing the 
EU mandate for the next EU-Russia Partnership and 
Cooperation Agreement (PCA) because Poland is 
holding up consensus over energy and trade concerns. 
The General Affairs and External Relations Council 
(GAERC) meeting on 13-14 November will be one of the 
last opportunities for the Presidency to hammer out 
a deal before the upcoming summit.  END SUMMARY. 
 
PPC READOUT AND NORTHERN DIMENSION PREVIEW 
------------------------------------------ 
¶2. (SBU) Laine stated that the EU-Russia PPC meeting 
at the foreign minister level had gone well, even 
though Lavrov was somewhat reluctant to delve too 
deeply into issues surrounding the 'frozen 
conflicts'.  The Finns did raise Georgia as part of 
the EU's continued effort to lower the temperature 
of the dispute.  Russian FM Lavrov responded by 
echoing the current Russian line that Georgia alone 
was responsible for the escalation in tensions and 
that once Tbilisi ended its provocation, Moscow 
would respond in kind.  The Presidency also raised 
the issue of Siberian overflights and Lavrov stated 
that the issue would be solved by 2013.  The 
Presidency had hoped to secure some sort of forward 
movement on the issue ahead of that deadline. 
 
¶3. (U) Laine was confident that preparations for the 
Northern Dimension meeting on 24 November were 
almost complete and that the meeting itself would be 
very brief (it follows the EU-Russia summit that 
will take place earlier that same day).  The only 
item on the agenda is the signing of an agreement, 
the text of which is already complete.  Moscow has, 
in the past, bristled over its perception that the 
Nordics have treated it as something of a junior 
partner within the Northern Dimension framework. 
The new agreement addresses those concerns and paves 
the way for enhanced cooperation on environmental 
and other cross-border programs of shared regional 
concern. 
 
TRADE AND ENERGY: WARSAW TAKING A STAND 
--------------------------------------- 
¶4. (C) Preparations for the EU-Russia summit, by 
contrast, were not going as smoothly.  Currently, 
Putin is scheduled to meet Finnish leaders 
bilaterally on 23 November; on 24 November, the EU 
Troika and Russia will discuss the PCA mandate, 
energy concerns, Georgia, the frozen conflicts, and 
other EU-Russia bilateral items during morning 
meetings and a lunch.  The major 'deliverable' among 
these, at least from the Finnish Presidency 
perspective, was to be EU consensus on a negotiating 
package for a new EU-Russia PCA.  Formulated in 
close cooperation with Moscow, the agreed-upon 
package was to be blessed at the summit and then 
handed over to the German Presidency for completion 
by June 2007.  Unfortunately, Laine said, Poland 
alone is holding up consensus on the negotiating 
mandate. 
 
¶5. (C) Warsaw has two major concerns.  First, it is 
insisting that the PCA negotiations address the 
questionable sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) bans 
that Moscow has placed on imports of all 
agricultural goods of Polish origin.  Since 2004, 
Russia has increasingly used SPS bans as a foreign 
policy tool against many states including several EU 
members and neighbors like the Netherlands, Moldova, 
and Georgia.  In this regard, Russia's WTO 
membership and its accompanying enforcement 
mechanisms would weaken or eliminate the Kremlin's 
use of SPS standards as a weapon and Laine expressed 
hope that the ongoing US-Russia WTO bilateral 
negotiations would soon reach a conclusion. 
 
¶6. (C) Second, Poland is insisting that Russia 
ratify the European Energy Charter before the next 
PCA takes effect.  Laine stressed that there is 
genuine alarm at all levels of the Polish government 
over the Northern European Gas Pipeline, and that in 
general terms the Presidency and most EU members 
share those concerns.  However, she said, others in 
 
HELSINKI 00001131  002 OF 002 
 
 
the EU do not share Warsaw's view that holding the 
PCA agreement hostage is the best way to address 
those concerns.  The EU will continue to press 
Russia to ratify the ECT, capitalizing on the 
positive tone established at the EU informals in 
Lahti in October.  Laine stated that the Presidency 
is accepting Putin's statements that Russia agrees 
with the principles of the Energy Charter and hoped 
to base the PCA mandate on those principles, though 
not on the Charter itself, as Poland is insisting. 
 
¶7. (C) COMMENT: Laine expressed hope that the EU 
could keep Warsaw from blocking consensus on the PCA 
mandate, given that an EU failure to offer this 
important 'deliverable' could cast an unhelpful 
shadow over some of the more difficult regional 
discussions.  The Finns are working closely with the 
Poles to see if a compromise can be reached.  END 
COMMENT. 
WARE