VZCZCXRO3916
PP RUEHAST RUEHFL RUEHLA RUEHMRE RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSR
DE RUEHVEN #0018/01 0361426
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 051426Z FEB 09
FM USMISSION USOSCE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6182
INFO RUCNOSC/ORG FOR SECURITY CO OP IN EUR COLLECTIVE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0675
RUEHUNV/USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA 1230
RHMFISS/CDR USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RHMFISS/CDRUSAREUR HEIDELBERG GE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHDLCNE/CINCUSNAVEUR LONDON UK
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC
RUEASWA/DTRA ALEX WASHINGTON DC
RUESDT/DTRA-OSES DARMSTADT GE
RHMFIUU/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUEKJCS/JCS WASHDC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1170

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 USOSCE 000018 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR VCI/CCA, VCI/NRRC, EUR/RPM, EUR/PRA, EUR/CARC, 
SCA/CEN, SCA/RA, PM/WRA 
JCS FOR J-5 
OSD FOR ISA (PERENYI) 
NSC FOR HAYES 
USUN FOR LEGAL, POL 
EUCOM FOR J-5 
CENTCOM FOR J-5 
UNVIE FOR AC 
GENEVA FOR CD 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PARM PREL KCFE OSCE RS XG
SUBJECT: FSC FEBRUARY 4: EU MILITARY HEAD ON BOSNIA AND MORE 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  French General Bentegeat, chair of the EU 
military committee, reviewed current EU military operations 
and the European Security and Defense Policy in the Forum for 
Security Cooperation on February 4.  Bentegeat said EU 
cooperation with NATO and the U.S. was good.  Belarus called 
for a new decision to define "force majeure" in the wake of 
Georgia's recent refusal of a Russian request for a Vienna 
Document inspection and evaluation.  Belarus also declined to 
support the draft decision to update the Code of Conduct 
questionnaire until its suggested edits were addressed.  The 
chair confirmed Russian DFM Grushko will provide Russian 
views on European security architecture at a joint FSC-PC 
meeting on February 18.  End summary. 
 
EU Military Operations: All for One, One for All 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶2. (SBU) General Henri Bentegeat, chairman of the EU military 
committee and former French CHOD, told the FSC Security 
Dialogue on February 4 that EU military operations 
complemented NATO, UN, and OSCE efforts to bring peace and 
stability to Europe and other regions.  Bentegeat said 
cooperation with other international organizations was good 
and singled out Turkey, Ukraine, Russia, and the U.S. for 
their national support to EU missions in Bosnia, Africa, and 
the Gulf of Aden/Indian Ocean. 
 
Slow Start, But Accelerating 
---------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Bentegeat admitted EU military operations, which 
only began in 2003, have been slow in starting, although the 
Bosnia and Chad operations began within a month of the 
political decision to engage.  He also noted as a weakness 
lack of publicity for EU military operations.  The EU, like 
NATO and the UN, was always engaged in a struggle for 
adequate resources, particularly for out of area operations 
in a period of economic austerity. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Bentegeat said the strengths of the EU in military 
operations were its global approach, which also included 
complementary civilian programs, and capacity building from 
extant resources within Member States, including helicopters, 
transport aviation, and space assets.  The EU's "European 
Defense and Security Policy" (ESDP), just updated in December 
2008, reflects a pragmatic approach to security issues.  Its 
priorities were conflict prevention, security in Europe and 
adjacent regions, and cooperation with the UN and other 
international and regional organizations. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Bentegeat briefly surveyed current EU operations in 
Bosnia, noting that operation will transition from 
peacekeeping to an assistance and advisory mission; Chad; 
anti-piracy in waters off Somalia; Kosovo; Afghanistan; and 
Georgia. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Bentegeat concluded his presentation by noting that 
in the current security environment all international 
organizations are in a crisis of legitimacy and effectiveness 
and the EU had the potential to fill in with, of course, 
close cooperation with the OSCE. 
 
Russia Wants to Get in the Tent 
------------------------------- 
 
USOSCE 00000018  002 OF 004 
 
 
 
¶7. (SBU) Russia (Ulyanov) challenged Bentegeat to explain why 
the EU lacked a "normative" document for cooperation with 
Russia similar to an EU-NATO agreement.  Ulyanov said Russia 
resented its second-class status vis-Q-vis EU members as it 
was not allowed to participate in peacekeeping operation 
decision-making.  Russia was reconsidering its support of EU 
operations for this reason.  Bentegeat reported extensive 
consultations with the Russian military, including Russia's 
CHOD, who recently addressed the EU CHOD committee. 
Bentegeat regretted that "statutory requirements" prevented 
closer cooperation, perhaps "something that could be worked 
on," noting that the EU and Russia had recently concluded an 
agreement governing the exchange of classified information. 
 
U.S. Support for EU Operations 
------------------------------ 
 
¶8. (SBU) The U.S. (Neighbour) observed the U.S. welcomed the 
EU contribution in Afghanistan, Bosnia, and the Gulf of Aden 
adjacent to Somalia.  In response to Neighbour's questions, 
Bentegeat said that while nothing precluded the merger of EU 
anti-piracy operations off Somalia with  "Combined Task Force 
151" led by the U.S. or even a prospective UN naval force, a 
merger was unnecessary as cooperation was just about perfect 
among the different naval forces in the region.  Bentegeat 
noted that Somalia had a very long coastline and there was 
plenty of work for all. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Also in response to U.S. questions, Bentegeat rued 
the present economic recession made the quest for adequate 
resources much harder.  European publics were reluctant to 
underwrite military operations that were not directly related 
to territorial defense.  Bentegeat emphasized that the EU 
must improve air transport resources, especially for 
operational use.  He said that combined procurement through 
the European Defense Agency was engaging many smaller 
European states who would otherwise not be able to contribute 
to the materiel needs of the EU.  While the EU sought to 
improve the defense industrial base of its members, it did 
not preclude continued cooperation with NATO.  Much of this 
was done through a NATO-EU capacity coordination group that 
tried to avoid overlap and redundancy in procurement. 
 
Georgia Calls for Reinvigorated EU Presence 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) Georgia (Giorgadze) praised the EU for its 
contributions to peace and security in the Caucasus, 
including the cease-fire brokered in August last year and the 
continuing EU monitoring mission, adding that Russia was 
still preventing full access for the monitors.  Noting the 
closing of the OSCE Mission to Georgia and the 
marginalization of the UN mission, UNOMIG, Giorgadze called 
for the EU to "reinvigorate" its role in the region with a 
more robust and peacekeeping presence.  For the longer term, 
Giorgadze suggested an ESDP mission to Georgia to gird local 
efforts to achieve peace, security, good governance, and 
economic and social development. 
 
¶11. (SBU) Turkey (Begec) welcomed a strong, meaningful role 
for the EU in security.  Turkey supported the ESDP and was a 
participant in all EU operations to which it was invited. 
Turkey had made large contributions to these operations, 
 
USOSCE 00000018  003 OF 004 
 
 
including "Althea" in Bosnia, and was prepared to address 
capacity shortcomings in future operations. 
 
Grushko and Haber to Address FSC-PC Meetings 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶12. (SBU) The FSC chair, France (Lebedel), announced that 
Ambassador Hansjoerg Haber (Germany), the head of the EU 
monitoring mission to Georgia, would address the Security 
Dialogue on February 11 in a joint meeting with the Permanent 
Council.  Lebedel also informed that the OSCE 
Chairmanship-in-Office, Greece, had asked Russian DFM 
Aleksandr Grushko to address another joint meeting on 
February 18. 
 
¶13. (SBU) Russia (Ulyanov) confirmed that Grushko would speak 
on "ways and means to improve the European security 
architecture" and urged all delegations to participate in an 
"interactive dialogue" on this subject. 
 
¶14. (SBU) NOTE: It was partially due to U.S. urging that the 
February 18 meeting was expanded to a joint FSC-PC format. 
End note. 
 
Vienna Document 
--------------- 
 
¶15. (SBU) Belarus (Krayushkin) expressed concern at the 
recent report of "noncompliance with verification activity 
under the Vienna Document."  Such incidents, Krayushkin said, 
could lead to further erosion of the document and other 
agreed measures.  He asserted that "force majeure" should not 
be used "selectively" by participating States, citing FSC 
Decision 6/97.  Noting that the Vienna Document does not 
explicitly define force majeure, Krayushkin proposed a 
separate new decision that would define the concept.  He 
suggested earlier efforts at defining force majeure, among 
them a UK paper in 2001 (FSC.DEL/17/01/Rev.1) and a 
Russo-Belarusian proposal in 2003 (FSC.DEL/172/03), could 
form the basis of a new attempt.  He looked forward to seeing 
a Canadian paper now in preparation. 
 
Code of Conduct Questionnaire 
----------------------------- 
 
¶16. (SBU) Belarus (Krayushkin) reported that it could not 
join consensus on the draft decision for an update to the 
Code of Conduct Questionnaire as its edits (FSC.DEL/186/08) 
to paragraph 3 of the draft decision had not been accepted. 
Belarus was, however, open to further consultations. 
 
Conventional Ammunition 
----------------------- 
 
¶17. (SBU) Denmark announced a further donation of 59,325 
euros to the ammunition demilitarization project in Georgia. 
The OSCE Conflict Prevention Center (CPC) had earlier 
reported that the project could be completed before the 
closing of the OSCE mission in Georgia in February if 
additional funds were obtained.  Georgia thanked Denmark and 
Greece for their contributions. 
 
¶18. (SBU) Germany announced a 25,000 euros contribution for 
the first "tranche" of the Ukraine melange project. 
 
USOSCE 00000018  004 OF 004 
 
 
 
AEMI 
---- 
 
¶19. (SBU) The CPC (Geertsen) reported that although 54 
participating States had made their submissions to the 2008 
Annual Exchange of Military Information, 20 had yet to comply 
with the requirement (FSC.DEC/17/07) to provide a copy to the 
Secretariat's Document Distribution Unit for electronic 
distribution to all delegations. 
 
Next Meeting 
------------ 
 
¶20. (SBU) A joint FSC-PC meeting on February 11 will feature 
the EU monitoring mission head, Amb. Hansjoerg Haber. 
SCOTT