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PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
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DE RUEHBS #1075/01 2180517
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 060517Z AUG 09
FM USEU BRUSSELS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUCNMEU/EU INTEREST COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 001075 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/ERA, EUR/RPM 
 
E.O.: 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR ECON EUN
SUBJECT: EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: A FIRST LOOK AT THE NEW FOREIGN 
AFFAIRS COMMITTEE 
 
REF: BRUSSELS 826 
 
Sensitive but Unclassified - please handle accordingly. 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  Although the European Parliament (EP) has less 
decision-making power in foreign policy as compared to other EU 
policy areas, the Foreign Affairs Committee (AFET) is traditionally 
a prestigious one and offers a platform for high-level visitors to 
reach out to the EU.  But the new AFET Committee leadership, 
selected on July 16, has little high-level international experience, 
and, with one exception, no history of interest in transatlantic 
relations.  The Committee has considerable depth, however, with 
members including a dozen former government heads or ministers in 
the foreign policy realm, and other high-profile figures, such as 
former EP President Poettering.   This report provides an initial 
overview of the new leadership and membership of the AFET.  The 
European Parliament reconvenes in September.  END SUMMARY. 
 
-------------------- 
THE COMMITTEE'S ROLE 
-------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) While the Foreign Affairs Committee (abbreviated by the 
French acronym AFET) is responsible for foreign policy issues for 
the EP, the EP lacks formal decision-making power in many 
traditional foreign policy areas.  Important aspects of the USG's 
foreign policy relationship with the EU are negotiated in other 
committees, including, for example, data privacy sharing agreements 
as well as all EU legislation on financial services, environment or 
industry-related fields.  AFET nonetheless has some instruments to 
exercise control, including giving assent to accession negotiations 
of new member states, to cooperation agreements, and to association 
agreements concluded with third countries.  AFET also has influence 
in determining the EP's budget for the external relations field. 
 
¶3. (U) The Committee also offers a platform for third countries to 
present their views.  For example, leaders who addressed the AFET in 
2008 include Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, former Israeli 
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Arab League Secretary General Amr 
Mousa, and Ukrainian PM Yulia Tymoshenko. 
 
------------------------------------------- 
THIN RESUMES ON TOP, BUT CONSIDERABLE DEPTH 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) Despite these recent high-profile visits and the 
Committee's prestigious reputation, the AFET leadership, elected 
July 16, does not have the foreign policy experience of previous 
committees.  A few staffers from political groups following the 
committee privately expressed concerns about the qualifications of 
the new leadership and about the imbalance of its representation. 
Chairman Gabriele Albertini (Italian EPP), for example, is 
relatively unknown in the foreign policy sphere.  Moreover, there is 
somethirnational eavers, for example, 
are expeQted to gain more power if the Lisbon Treaty %nters into 
force in January 2010. 
 
¶6. (SBU) hile committee leaders hold agenda-setting 
responsibilities, other members, such as political group 
coordinators and rapporteurs (MEPs in charge of drafting reports on 
specific issues) are also influential and will likely remain in the 
hands of experienced MEPs, some with top-level experience in 
transatlantic relations.  For example, Elmar Brok, the EPP 
coordinator, will almost surely also become the new chairman of the 
EP delegation for relations with the U.S.  Overall, the Committee 
includes many qualified and experienced MEPs (per para 7). 
 
------------------------------ 
WHO'S WHO IN THE NEW COMMITTEE 
------------------------------ 
 
¶7. (SBU) The AFET committee leaders and political group coordinators 
(with the exception of the Socialist group coordinator, who has not 
yet been appointed) are: 
 
 
BRUSSELS 00001075  002 OF 002 
 
 
-- Gabriele Albertini, Chairman (EPP, Italy):   A MEP since 2004 
from the Italian center-right Forza party, Albertini was 
vice-president of the delegation for relations with the NATO 
parliamentary assembly and was a (not very active) member of the 
delegation for relations with the U.S.  He was also mayor of Milan 
1997-2006. 
 
-- Fiorello Provella, First Vice-Chairman (EFD, Italy):  Provella 
belongs to the small ultra-conservative and euroskeptic group EFD as 
a member of the Italian "Lega Nord" party.  His election as a first 
vice-chairman elicited the only vocal opposition during the 
nomination proceedings.  The socialists decided to abstain from the 
acclamation vote as a sign of protest. 
 
-- Mircea Pascu, Second Vice-Chairman (Socialist S&D group, 
Romania):  Former Romanian Defense Minister and previous AFET 
Vice-Chairman, Pascu is a respected and active MEP.  A strong 
trans-atlanticist, he was cited in the Council of Europe report on 
"extraordinary renditions" and "CIA secret prisons" as a member of 
the Romanian Government who helped the U.S. on these issues, an 
accusation he strong denies. 
 
-- Dominique Baudis, Third Vice-Chairman (EPP, France): An 
international war correspondent for French television, Baudis 
started his political career as Mayor of Toulouse from 1983 to 2000 
and as a member of the French National Assembly from 1988 to 1997. 
In 2000 he led the council that regulated French television and 
radio.  A somewhat sensational figure, he hit the headlines in 2003 
when he was cited in a murder and rape case involving the serial 
killer Partrice Alegre, and was later acquitted of all charges. 
 
-- Jean-Luc Melenchon, Fourth Vice-Chairman (GUE-NGL, France): 
Melenchon quit the French Socialist party to create his own 
left-wing Parti de Gauche.  He is a strong opponent to a European 
constitution and to the Lisbon Treaty. 
 
-- Jose Ignacio Salafranca, EPP Coordinator (Spain):  A professor of 
European law, Salafranca was elected to the EP in 1994 and has 
served as the Committee's EPP coordinator since 2001, as well as the 
EPP's spokesman in the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.  Salafranca is a 
specialist in Latin America and the Middle East.  He proved a good 
contact to the Mission during the last Parliamentary term. 
 
-- Elmar Brok, EPP Coordinator (Germany):  Brok has been in office 
since 1979 and was Chairman of AFET from 2000 to 2007.  He was also 
(and will almost certainly remain) the EPP coordinator for 
institutional issues.  Known for his flamboyant and direct style, 
Brok describes himself as an ally of the U.S., despite frequently 
criticizing the former Bush Administration on Iraq, Guantanamo, the 
ICC, the Kyoto Protocol, and the death penalty. 
 
-- Annemie Neyts, ALDE Coordinator (Belgium):  Neyts become the 
Flemish Liberal Party's chairman for the Brussels region in 1995, 
then Belgium's Minister of Trade during the late-2001 Belgian EU 
Presidency.  She presided over the EU Council during the Doha trade 
talks. She has served as the party's coordinator since 2004. 
 
-- In addition to these key MEPs, the Committee's high-profile 
members include former Lithuanian President Vytautas Landsbergis 
(EPP); Finland's former Prime Minister (PM) Anneli Jaatteenmaki, and 
Slovenia's former PM and Foreign Minister (FM) Alojz Peterle.  Also 
members are four other former foreign ministers: Adrian Severin 
(Socialist S&D, Romania); Ioannis Kasoulides (EPP, Cyprus), 
Kristiina Ojuland (ALDE, Estonia)and Eduard Kukan (EPP, Slovakia); 
former defense ministers Jelko Kacin (EPP, Slovenia) and Kyriakos 
Mavronikolas (Socialist S&D, Cyprus); former Polish Minister for 
European Affairs and former AFET Chairman Jacek Saryuz-Wolski; 
former President of the European Parliament Hans-Gert Poettering, 
and former leader of the ALDE group Graham Watson. 
 
MURRAY