VZCZCXRO5559
PP RUEHIK
DE RUEHRL #1314/01 2940847
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 210847Z OCT 09
FM AMEMBASSY BERLIN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5538
INFO RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BERLIN 001314 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS TO JKESSLER IN EUR/ERA; PSCHROEDER IN EUR/CE; USTR AND 
OMB 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD EFIN PREL ECIN EU GM
SUBJECT: GERMANY ON TEC: MORE MODEST AGENDA, READY TO DEAL 
 
REF: A. BRUSSELS 78 
     ¶B. BRUSSELS 437 
     ¶C. BERLIN 396 
 
BERLIN 00001314  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  The German government, worried that the 
Transatlantic 
Economic Cooperation (TEC) process may stall at the upcoming TEC 
meeting 
on October 26-27, is setting more modest goals.  The German 
government 
has submitted five agenda items - on financial regulations, 
innovative 
technologies, auto environmental and safety standards, biofuels, and 
 
100% container scanning -- and asks that the U.S. does the same. 
The 
goal is to proceed with a common agenda of workable issues and keep 
the 
process going.  German industry remains fully on board.  End 
summary. 
 
German Government Tables TEC Proposal 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Last month, the German Economic Ministry sent Embassy 
Berlin a 
paper with its comments on the upcoming October 26-27 TEC meeting. 
The 
paper is based largely on a position paper that EU Commissioner 
Verheugen issued in July.  The German paper proposes putting only 
those 
issues of interest to both the U.S. and the EU on the TEC agenda. 
The 
Economic Ministry identified five issues of particular interest to 
Germany: 
 
A) Overcoming the financial crisis by cooperating on rules for 
credit 
rating agencies and solvency requirements for insurance companies, 
as 
well as mutual recognition of standards for supervising financial 
markets; 
 
B) Increasing cooperation in RFID and electric vehicle technologies 
(aka 
"electromobility"); 
 
C) Coordinating environmental and safety standards in the automobile 
 
industry; 
 
D) Cooperating on sustainability criteria for the use of biofuels; 
and 
 
E) Cooperating on solutions to deal with the challenge of 100% 
container 
scanning. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Once priority areas have been identified, the paper calls 
for 
the U.S. and the EU to develop a concrete plan of action.  In order 
to 
ensure continuity of the TEC process, the paper further suggests 
establishing a "working-level group" that stays in regular contact, 
to 
maintain progress from one TEC meeting to another.  And it supports 
the 
U.S.-proposed and now launched U.S.-EU Energy Council, which the 
Commission previously regarded with skepticism, as an appropriate 
forum 
for cooperation on energy issues, provided that it does not 
duplicate 
the work of other fora. The paper ends with a strong appeal to both 
 
sides to produce a work plan and achieve concrete results in the 
TEC. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Subsequent to receiving the FRG's paper, a group of trade 
contacts at the German Federal Ministry of Economics led by Knut 
Bruenjes, Deputy Director General for Trade Policy, emphasized to us 
the 
importance of achieving concrete results at the October 27-28 TEC 
meeting.  They showed a clear preference toward more modest and 
 
BERLIN 00001314  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
realistic goals that can actually be accomplished.  Bruenjes noted 
that, 
whereas the Verheugen position paper of July had said, "all areas 
linked 
to ethical judgments and convictions should be excluded from mutual 
 
recognition," it was his view that, despite divergent U.S. and EU 
world 
views on many matters, both sides should pursue practical solutions 
to 
bridge such differences, as was done in the case of hormones in 
beef. As 
another example, Bruenjes suggested a common US/EU standard for a 
plug 
for electrical vehicles.  Agreement on a simple, but practical, 
thing 
like a common plug could, in his view, serve as a major deliverable 
with 
an immediate practical consequence that the man in the street would 
 
understand and appreciate. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Because container scanning is enshrined in U.S. law, 
Bruenjes 
suggested that the EU and the U.S. work together to develop 
technologies 
to make scanning work efficiently, and then market those 
technologies, 
including to third countries. 
 
German Industry on the Same Page 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) In recent discussions, representatives of the Federation of 
 
German Industries (BDI) reaffirmed their strong support for the TEC, 
 
agreeing with the overall thrust of the German government's paper. 
The 
most important topics for BDI continue to be: 
A) Energy and climate (energy efficiency, R&D, regulatory 
cooperation 
and emission trading), 
 
B) Innovation technologies (RFID, nanotechnology and electro 
mobility), 
 
C) Secure trade/100% scanning, 
 
D) The suppliers' declaration of conformity (SDOC), and 
 
E) The protection of intellectual property. 
 
BDI also continues to emphasize the need for high-level political 
support for the TEC process from both sides of the Atlantic to move 
the 
process forward. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) The German Econ Ministry's bottom line is that they want 
results and a work plan that aims for deliverables. In turn, they 
would 
like the U.S. to identify its own top agenda items, work together 
with 
them to narrow the topics down to a common agenda, and come up with 
a 
concrete work plan at the working level to keep these agenda items 
moving forward. Failing that, they are concerned that the TEC 
process 
will reach a stalemate. 
 
MURPHY