VZCZCXRO5200
PP RUEHPOD
DE RUEHRO #1945/01 2551152
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 121152Z SEP 07
FM AMEMBASSY ROME
TO RUCNMEU/EU INTEREST COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBS/AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS PRIORITY 1724
RUEHMT/AMCONSUL MONTREAL PRIORITY 0140
RULSDMK/DEPT OF TRANSPORTATION WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY 4559
RHMCSUU/FAA NATIONAL HQ WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/TSA HQ WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
INFO RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN PRIORITY 1786
RUEHLI/AMEMBASSY LISBON PRIORITY 0490
RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID PRIORITY 1823
RUEHFL/AMCONSUL FLORENCE PRIORITY 2612
RUEHMIL/AMCONSUL MILAN PRIORITY 8922
RUEHNP/AMCONSUL NAPLES PRIORITY 2748

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ROME 001945 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
USEU PASS FOR T SMITHAM 
BRUSSELS PASS FOR FAA K EDWARDS 
STATE PASS FOR IO/T AND EB/TRA 
MONTREAL PASS FOR US MISSION TO ICAO 
FAA PASS FOR J FILIPPATOS, D REIMOLD, C BURLESON 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAIR SENV ECON ETRD XA XB XD XF XG XL IT
SUBJECT: ITALY PRIVATELY FAVORS ICAO AVIATION EMISSIONS 
SCHEME--WITH STRINGS 
 
REF: A. ROME 1600 
 
     ¶B. SECSTATE 77572 
 
ROME 00001945  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  Government of Italy (GOI) representatives 
recently indicated unofficially that Italy would prefer a 
global aviation emissions solution rather than the EU 
Commission's proposed Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).  GOI 
MFA comments suggest that, with a commitment to global and 
binding emissions standards by all ICAO participants, Italy 
would support an agreement that would supersede the proposed 
ETS.  Our interlocutors reiterated that in the interim, as an 
EU member, Italy must support the ETS.  Neither of our 
contacts articulated what a new aviation emissions plan would 
look like, but it is likely that the GOI would advocate for 
rigorous environmental measures in any plan.  END SUMMARY 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Fabio Marchiandi, Head of the International 
Relations Office at ENAC (the Italian Civil Aviation 
Authority), told Emboffs privately that Italy would like a 
"softer" position on emissions than that proposed in the EU 
ETS directive, and would like a global solution to aviation 
emissions developed and executed within the ICAO context.  He 
did not articulate what a softer aviation emissions position 
would entail.  COMMENT:  Presumably a global or broad-based 
ICAO mechanism would be the result of negotiated compromise 
between the EU and other countries.  END COMMENT. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Marchiandi disclosed that, as a way to achieve this 
softer position, Italy and other European countries are 
attempting to replace Germany with Portugal on the informal 
ICAO "Friends of the (ICAO) President" (F.O.P.) group. 
According to Marchiandi, Portugal, like Italy, is less ardent 
in its support for the ETS than Germany.  The GOI's hope is 
that a newly-reconstituted F.O.P. group would influence the 
ICAO President and the Assembly to discuss aviation emissions 
and work to find a solution within the ICAO context. 
COMMENT:  The U.K. and Germany currently represent Europe in 
the F.O.P. group.  The F.O.P. group has not addressed 
environmental matters before.  END COMMENT. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Stefano Nicoletti, Head of MFA's office that covers 
transportation issues, unofficially confirmed the GOI's 
preference for ICAO as the locus of civil aviation policy, 
and the GOI's preference for a global, rather than solely 
European, aviation emissions plan.  Nicoletti said that the 
GOI would support an ICAO aviation emissions initiative 
instead of the ETS if ICAO demonstrates a commitment to deal 
effectively with the problem.  For the GOI, key elements of 
such a commitment would include an ICAO-wide acknowledgment 
of the aviation emissions problem, and a clearly stated 
objective to develop a global and binding solution with a 
timetable for implementation.  A further sign of ICAO's 
seriousness would be designating a committee to address the 
issue, perhaps ICAO's Committee on Aviation Environmental 
Protection (CAEP).  Nicoletti underlined Italy's interest in 
being part of such a group. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) With these conditions, Nicoletti said privately 
that Italy could commit to acting as a mediator to find a 
compromise between the EU ETS and a plan more acceptable to 
the rest of the world.  Nicoletti suggested that other 
European countries would be interested in this plan also, but 
he did not identify them (NOTE:  As reported in ref A, these 
countries may be Spain and Portugal.  END NOTE).  Neither 
could he identify what form the basis for a revised agreement 
might take or how the GOI would approach the EU to revise 
ETS. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) COMMENT:  From these remarks, it is clear that the 
GOI does not fully support the EU position on aviation 
emissions in the proposed ETS; Italy could, therefore, be 
helpful in efforts to shift the aviation emissions discussion 
to ICAO.  However, both Marchiandi and Nicoletti emphasized 
 
ROME 00001945  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
that the decision to implement the ETS is a political one at 
the European Commission level, and has considerable momentum. 
 Both stated that Italy must publicly support the EU plan. 
Finally, it is important to remember that while Italy may not 
be enthusiastic about the ETS plan as currently formulated, 
the GOI would likely call for stringent measures in any 
aviation emissions scheme, be it ICAO- or EU-based (ref A, 
comments by R Cecchi).  END COMMENT 
SPOGLI