VZCZCXRO5402
PP RUEHAST RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHLA RUEHMRE RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSL
RUEHSR
DE RUEHVEN #0181 2171458
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 051458Z AUG 09
FM USMISSION USOSCE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6529
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
INFO RUCNOSC/ORG FOR SECURITY CO OP IN EUR COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS USOSCE 000181 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL OSCE RU
SUBJECT: OSCE,S CORFU PROCESS COMES A BIT MORE INTO FOCUS 
 
¶1.  Summary: The OSCE,s Greek Chairmanship has assembled an 
outline for how it intends to proceed this autumn on a 
comprehensive review of European security, known as the Corfu 
process.  Leading up to a possible declaration or decision at 
the December 1-2 Athens Ministerial the Greek chairmanship 
intends to convene a series of weekly informal Perm Rep 
meetings to  look at existing commitments, conflict 
resolution and challenges in each of the three OSCE 
Dimensions ) human, economic and politico-military.   A 
high degree of uncertainty remains about where the Greeks are 
going with this and what will be the actual result.  End 
summary. 
 
¶2.  On July 31 the OSCE,s Greek Chairmanship distributed an 
indicative list of topics and schedule for  &Corfu Meetings 
in the framework of the European Security Dialogue8 
(document CIO.GAL/98/09).   Designed to provide Vienna 
Delegations with a clearer idea of the scope and extent of 
the Corfu process from September until the Athens 
Ministerial, the list of topics to be discussed encompasses 
five main themes: 
a)    Common Foundations and Commitments in the OSCE Area 
b)    Common Challenges of a Politico-Military Nature 
c)    Conflict Resolution in the OSCE area 
d)    Common Challenges in the Human Dimension 
e)    Common Challenges related to the Economic and 
Environmental Dimension 
 
PermReps will discuss these themes through the prism of the 
basic OSCE principles of comprehensive and indivisible 
security, existing commitments and the need for strengthened 
cooperation on crisis management, arms control and responses 
to new challenges.  The aim will be to identify areas where 
the OSCE has failed to live up to its principles, where 
commitments have not been fulfilled and OSCE mechanisms and 
procedures that failed to perform fully or to their intended 
purpose. 
 
¶3.  The Greeks envision ten PermRep meetings, held weekly on 
most Tuesdays starting September 8 and culminating in a 
Reinforced PC November 24 in preparation for the Athens 
Ministerial.  Of the ten meetings, two will be devoted to 
each of the three dimensions, while one will be a joint 
FSC-PC to review the 2009 Annual Security Review Conference 
and another will consider conflict resolution in the OSCE 
area. 
 
¶4.  The inaugural meeting September 8 will focus on 
implementation of norms and principles of international law 
in the OSCE area and will feature a presentation by 
Ambassador Herbert Salber, Director of the OSCE,s Conflict 
Prevention Center.  (Note: Salber is reportedly a bit baffled 
by his mandate; his staff tells us the Greeks summarily 
informed him at the last minute of the date of the meeting 
and topic, but have said nothing else in terms of goals and 
expectations). 
 
¶5.   Although this process was established in response to an 
initiative last year by Russian President Medvedev, the 
Russians have so far displayed  a marked disinterest in the 
Greek plans.   Greek Ambassador Marinaki told us July 28 that 
she had received little feedback from Russian Ambassador 
Azimov on the Greek plans.  At an Ambassadorial-level 
discussion July 21, Azimov, while paying lip service to the 
concept of comprehensive security and to a central OSCE role 
in the process, restated Russia,s desire to keep the 
dialogue focused on hard security. Subsequent informal 
contacts with members of the Russian delegation seem to 
confirm their current lack of serious intention to engage in 
the process. 
 
¶6.  Comment.  While the list and principles from the Greeks 
is helpful, it remains unclear what the final product put 
before Ministers in December will actually entail.  As we 
have repeatedly emphasized to the Greeks in Vienna, the 
substance must drive the process.   We will  need to see a 
critical mass of relevant issues and a workable basis for a 
dialogue (necessarily involving some Russian buy in) to 
emerge before committing to any sort of end product for 
Ministers to endorse in December. 
NEIGHBOUR