VZCZCXRO5922
RR RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHBS #0091/01 0111803
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 111803Z JAN 07
FM USEU BRUSSELS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHBM/AMEMBASSY BUCHAREST
RUEHSF/AMEMBASSY SOFIA

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BRUSSELS 000091 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NOFORN 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/10/2017 
TAGS: AF BK EUN IR IS KPAL LE PGOV PHUM PREL TU
SUBJECT: EU LEADERS SEEK BALANCE ON ENLARGEMENT; TALK TOUGH 
ON IRAN, SYRIA 
 
REF: A. A) BRUSSELS 06 04120 
     ¶B. SECSTATE 06 195044 
     ¶C. SECSTATE 06 194456 
 
Classified By: Polmincouns Laurence Wohlers, for reasons 1.5 (d) and (e 
). 
 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
1.(SBU)  Meeting in Brussels on December 15, EU leaders 
concluded their uneventful European Council meeting by 
proclaiming an EU enlargement strategy based on the &three 
C,s8 formula coined by President Barroso:  &consolidation 
(of the latest entrants), conditionality (strict criteria for 
all candidates) and communication (reaching out to citizens 
about the merits of enlargement), combined with the EU,s 
capacity to integrate new members.8  The leaders also issued 
conclusions setting out principles for a comprehensive 
European migration policy and enhancing the capacity of 
FRONTEX (the EU,s external borders management agency).  As 
expected, no agreement was reached on enforcing the 
&passerelle8 clause for easing decision-making in judicial 
and police cooperation; the issue remains part of the broader 
debate on the future of the Constitutional Treaty.  The 
leaders also issued political declarations on the Middle East 
Peace Process, Lebanon/Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, and African 
issues, and the Western Balkans.  END SUMMARY 
 
2.(U) As the Finnish Presidency had hoped, the December 14-15 
European Council was a quiet affair. The EU Foreign Ministers 
meeting in the General Affairs and External Relations Council 
(GAERC) earlier in the week, had assured this outcome with 
the December 11 decision to &freeze8 up to eight chapters 
in the accession negotiations with Turkey while keeping the 
process on track (REF A), and to hand off the future of the 
Constitutional Treaty issues to the incoming German 
Presidency in 2007.  Consequently, the key issues on the EU 
leaders, agenda were Iran, the Middle East, Sudan/Darfur, 
immigration, and EU enlargement.  A full set of Council 
conclusions was e-mailed to EUR/ERA on December 12.  The 
texts are also available on the official website of the 
European Council at http://www.consilium.europa.eu. 
 
Middle East 
----------- 
3.(C) EU leaders issued a new political declaration on the 
Middle East Peace Process (said to be facing &one of the 
worst crises in years8).  Separately,  EU Foreign Ministers 
agreed to extend the current Temporary International 
Assistance Mechanism (TIM) to aid the Palestinian people for 
an additional three months.  The EU slightly toughened its 
public stance toward Syria, urging it to &end all 
interference in Lebanese affairs8 and to &actively engage 
in the stabilization of Lebanon and the region.8   However, 
the Council stopped short of calling on Syria to end its 
support for &forces determined to destabilize Lebanon and 
the region.8 (i.e., Hezbollah)  A German Permrep contact 
firmly refuted a press room rumor that German FM Steinmeier 
had circulated to colleagues a non-paper on Syria. 
 
Iran 
---- 
4.(C) Council conclusions on Iran carried forward the EU,s 
current policy line in anticipation of imminent passage of a 
UNSC sanctions resolution in New York. EU leaders also 
fine-tuned their conclusions on Iran which lambasted the 
Iranian regime for canceling its human rights dialogue with 
the EU and for its role in a recent conference in Tehran to 
deny the Holocaust.  According to a German contact (protect) 
neither the Council nor the GAERC held extensive discussions 
on Iran.  The GAERC lunch discussion was extremely short 
(&no more than ten minutes or so8) because member states 
backed the passage of the resolution, and because session was 
almost completely dominated by the Cyprus ports issue (REF 
A). 
 
Afghanistan 
----------- 
5.(U) EU leaders promised to look at conditions for a 
civilian ESDP mission in policing and the rule of law.  An EU 
fact finding mission was expected to report to PSC 
Ambassadors in early January on the issue in advance of the 
January 22 GAERC. 
 
Africa (Sudan/Darfur) 
--------------------- 
6.(C) EU leaders declared the security, humanitarian and 
human rights situation in Darfur appalling and called on the 
 
BRUSSELS 00000091  002 OF 003 
 
 
Government of Sudan to fulfill its responsibility to protect 
its citizens from violence and to put an end to impunity in 
Darfur.  The Government of Sudan was also urged to consent to 
implementation of the entire U.N. support package for the 
African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) and urged GOS to 
fulfill its obligations under UNSCR 1591.  EU leaders 
reiterated their commitment to peace efforts in Darfur 
(including AMIS support).  Concurrently with the GAERC, U.S. 
Special Envoy for Sudan Andrew Natsios was in Brussels 
December 15-16 and met with EU High Representative Javier 
Solana and other EU officials to discuss strategies in 
Darfur.  Solana and Natsios agreed on the need to implement 
then UNSYG Annan's Darfur plan, to engage regional players in 
negotiations, to refrain from making idle threats against 
Sudanese President Bashir's regime, and to reassure Bashir 
that the EU and U.S. are not seeking regime change in Sudan. 
 
Western Balkans 
---------------- 
7.(SBU) Given the NATO Riga Summit,s decision to expand 
Partnership for Peace for several Balkan countries and the 
Serbian January 21 parliamentary elections, EU leaders 
offered slightly more forward-leaning language than in the 
past on the possible resumption of talks with Serbia on a 
Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA).  Earlier in 
the week, EU FMs debated the tenor of its political signals 
to Belgrade on the SAA and needed cooperation with ICTY, 
Kosovo final status and the conduct of the January 21 Serbian 
elections.  It is widely expected that the GAERC scheduled to 
meet on January 22 ) the day after the Serbian parliamentary 
elections -- will begin to reassess the situation (and 
presumably the current EU policy line) on Serbia,s SAA as 
well as Kosovo final status. 
 
Enlargement 
----------- 
8.(C) According to an advisor to Hi Rep Solana, the 
Council,s reassessment of EU enlargement policy was an 
extensive &back and forth8 debate which allowed leaders to 
&clear the air8 on all the issues rather than reach new 
decisions.  A November 2006 European Commission paper 
(mandated by the June 2006 European Council) served to frame 
the leaders, EU institutions and a review of Croatia and 
Turkey,s process one year after the opening of accession 
negotiations.  In the end, the Council Presidency,s 
Conclusions struck a balance between the EU need to keep 
commitments (especially toward the Western Balkans), to 
enforce conditionality in the enlargement process, and to 
ensure the effective functioning of EU institutions.  The new 
approach is summarized in the new formula for enlargement 
coined by President Barroso,s &the three C,s8: 
consolidation (of the latest entrants); conditionality 
(strict criteria for all candidates); and communication (with 
European citizens about the merits of expansion). 
 
9.(C) During the Council debate, member states were loosely 
gathered into three groups.  The first group, led by Belgium 
and Spain, supported enlargement, but not at the cost of the 
strengthening and deepening the Union.  They attached 
greatest importance to resolving the constitution question, 
and the deepening of integration in Justice and Home Affairs 
and economic policy.  In that context, Spain and Luxembourg 
announced a joint initiative to host in their respective 
capitals a two-part &Friends of the Constitution8 
ministerial-level forum in early 2007. (Note: A text of the 
December 14 invitation letter to EU member states was 
provided to EUR/ERA via fax.) 
 
10.(C) Moreover, Belgian and EU contacts have indicated to us 
that the Belgian government is particularly keen to use the 
current constitutional crisis to move the Union forward to a 
new level of political integration.  Belgium would consider a 
mini-treaty a step backward, and instead wishes to present a 
new and bolder proposal to the European electorate.  While 
acknowledging the Belgians, good intentions, Solana,s 
advisor privately doubted the Belgians could produce a 
product that was both new and salable at the present time. 
 
11.(C) The second group, led by the French and Dutch, clearly 
expressed doubts about EU enlargement per se.  FM Bot was 
reportedly under heavy pressure to take a tough stance on the 
matter at the GAERC as well.  Both countries, leaders 
characterized the enlargement process as &out of control8 
and argued for the need to slow it down. 
 
12.(C) The third and final group, spearheaded by the UK and 
Sweden, made a case for continuing the enlargement process. 
They were neither particularly concerned about the 
constitution nor were they particularly enthusiastic about 
 
BRUSSELS 00000091  003 OF 003 
 
 
further deepening of the Union.  Essentially these countries 
approached the debate through the prism of the EU as only 
&an economic union plus.8 
 
Constitutional Treaty 
--------------------- 
13.(U) On the basis of six months of confidential bilateral 
consultations with the 27, Finnish PM Vanhanen reported to EU 
leaders the EU Presidency,s assessment of next steps on the 
constitutional treaty.  Vanhanen told reporters after the 
Council meeting that two main points to emerge from his 
consultations were that reform was needed and that the entire 
text could not be discarded and drafted from scratch. 
Vanhanen,s comment notwithstanding, Embassy Helsinki 
understands that the Finnish Presidency,s mandate in 
carrying out the EU-wide consultations was less to provide 
specific recommendations as to how the Constitutional process 
can be revived and moved forward, and more to simply take the 
temperature of the 27.  The German Presidency, in turn, is 
expected to come up with specific recommendations on next 
steps based on the Finns initial report. 
 
Justice and Home Affairs -- Migration 
------------------------------------- 
14.(U) The Finnish Presidency came to the Council meeting 
frustrated with member states, failure to reach consensus to 
ease the JHA decision-making process through the possible use 
of passerelle.  Germany consistently opposed approval of 
passerelle, viewing any such move as cherry-picking one 
aspect of institutional reform from the constitutional 
treaty.  As a result, the Council merely reaffirmed its 
commitment to the principle of efficient decision-making. 
 
15.(U) Vanhanen also told reporters after the meeting that 
the Council had agreed on elements to develop a common EU 
migration policy, and that there was broad agreement to 
enhance the capabilities of FRONTEX, the new agency for the 
integrated management of external borders.  Barroso said it 
made no sense for EU countries to have 25 different migration 
policies, and the Commission is expected to submit concrete 
proposals during 2007.  The push to enhance FRONTEX 
capabilities (and presumably budget) is based on continuing 
concerns about the large numbers of illegal immigrants 
arriving by sea on the EU,s southern coasts. 
 
OTHER ISSUES 
------------ 
China 
----- 
16.(U) The GAERC took no decisions on the China arms embargo 
nor did it refer the matter to the European Council.  The 
French had insisted on placing the China Arms Embargo (ref B) 
on the agenda in response to the Finnish Presidency,s GAERC 
agenda item on the EU Code of Conduct for Arms Sales.  The 
discussion that ensured reportedly broke no new ground. 
After the December 11 GAERC, European RELEX Commissioner 
Ferrero-Waldner announced that she would travel to Beijing to 
officially launch negotiation of a &comprehensive 
partnership agreement8 with China. 
 
Russia PCA 
---------- 
17.(SBU) Although Russia was not formally on the Council 
agenda, CFSP Hi Rep Solana and Poland,s President Kackynzki 
met on the margins of the meeting to attempt to resolve the 
current impasse over the EU framework for negotiations with 
Russia for a new Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA). 
 Elements of the deal would have allowed Poland to lift its 
objection to the PCA negotiating framework in exchange for 
removal of the Russian ban on Polish meat exports after 50 
days.  The sequencing of the two reciprocal moves had yet to 
be determined. In any case, no solution emerged, as others -- 
reportedly including Germany -- preferred to defer resolution 
of the matter during their Presidency. 
.