VZCZCXRO2664
PP RUEHIK
DE RUEHMD #0174/01 0431525
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 121525Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY MADRID
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1928
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUEHLA/AMCONSUL BARCELONA 4356
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MADRID 000174 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/WE, EUR/OHI, EEB/TPP/IPE, L/PD 
STATE ALSO FOR ECA AND EUR/PPD (L.MCMANIS) 
STATE PASS USTR FOR D.WEINER AND J.GROVES 
STATE ALSO PASS U.S. COPYRIGHT OFFICE FOR M.WOODS AND 
M.PALLANTE 
COMMERCE FOR 4212/DON CALVERT 
COMMERCE ALSO FOR USTPO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD KIPR PGOV PREL PHUM SCUL SP
SUBJECT: SPAIN: AMBASSADOR'S MEETING WITH MINISTER OF 
CULTURE ANGELES GONZALEZ-SINDE 
 
REF: A. BARCELONA 15 
     ¶B. 09 MADRID 1161 
 
MADRID 00000174  001.3 OF 003 
 
 
SUMMARY: 
 
¶1. (SBU) Ambassador met February 10 with Minister of Culture 
Angeles Gonzalez Sinde to discuss bilateral cooperation on 
cultural issues, intellectual property rights and draft 
legislation that would enhance the government's ability to 
combat digital piracy, and the Holocaust-related claim by 
AMCIT Claude Cassirer on a State-owned painting in Madrid's 
Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum.  The Minister reiterated the 
government's request that the Embassy continue to engage with 
the political opposition on draft legislation for shutting 
down pirate websites.  With respect to the Cassirer claim, 
Ministry officials says the Spanish state is prohibited from 
giving away property or offering compensation, but the 
Ambassador asked the Minister to look at some different 
options to resolve the matter in a more satisfactory fashion. 
 End Summary. 
 
CULTURAL COOPERATION 
 
¶2. (U) The Minister was accompanied by her Chief of Staff, 
Javier Bonilla, and Director General (DG) for Cultural Policy 
and Industries Guillermo Corral van Damme.  Ambassador 
Solomont began by listing the various cultural events he has 
participated in since his recent arrival.  The Ambassador 
also mentioned the partnership between the Boston-based 
Berklee School of Music and Spain's General Society of 
Authors and Publishers (SGAE) in developing a cultural center 
and music university in Valencia, which he characterized as 
an "ambitious project."   The Ambassador also thanked the 
Minister for her work on the Fulbright grantee selection 
boards and her speech at the November 2009 event celebrating 
the 50th anniversary of the first Spanish grants awarded 
under the program.  Finally, he mentioned that the Boston 
Museum of Fine Arts plans to lend a John Singer Sargent 
painting, which was influenced by the Velazquez masterpiece 
"Las Meninas," to the Prado, and he hoped the Minister could 
attend a reception for the Boston delegation in March. 
 
IPR PROTECTION AND ANTI-PIRACY MEASURES 
 
¶3. (SBU) Ambassador Solomont said he had heard a great deal 
about Spain's Internet piracy problem, from MPAA CEO Glickman 
and others, and asked where things stand with the 
government's legislative proposal (ref B) on shutting down or 
blocking pirate websites.  Minister Gonzalez-Sinde replied 
that everything the government tries to do in this area is 
big news, since attempts to regulate Internet activity are of 
intense interest to young people, the media, and companies 
like Google.  The government's proposal, she said, is quite 
reasonable and even modest.  The government has pledged not 
to move aggressively against citizens and individual users as 
has been proposed in France and the UK, but its initiative is 
nonetheless controversial.  Many politicians, she averred, 
have little information or understanding of the issue.  Even 
those who recognize the damage that Internet piracy does to 
cultural industries have not been helpful. 
 
¶4. (SBU) At the same time, the Minister said there has been a 
lot of progress and an open public debate on the issues 
surrounding Internet piracy since she came into office last 
April.  There are still populist demands for "free culture" 
on the Internet, but these are being taken less seriously in 
the media.  The Internet is shaking up traditional modes of 
cultural distribution, she said.  Increased use of the e-book 
is sensitizing authors and influential media owners to the 
piracy problem. 
 
¶5. (SBU) The Congressional debate over the government's draft 
law will be complicated, and this is where the Minister said 
the Ambassador can help.  The Government believes it is 
making progress with Deputies from the ruling Spanish 
Socialist Workers Party (PSOE), but is concerned about the 
opposition Populist Party (PP).  The Ambassador noted he had 
raised the issue in his initial meeting with PP leader 
Mariano Rajoy and had told him how important the issue is to 
the USG and private industry.  Gonzalez-Sinde pointed out 
that if the government does not solve this problem now, it 
 
MADRID 00000174  002.3 OF 003 
 
 
could become an issue in the next presidential campaign. 
Should the PP come back to power, it will have to deal with 
this issue, because the current situation is unsustainable 
over time.  (Comment: As reported septel, DG Corral told 
econoffs recently that the government faces opposition from 
some members of the ruling party, and he asked us to make our 
views known to legislators from the regional Convergencia i 
Unio (Cataluna) and Partido Nacional Vasco (Basque Country) 
blocs.) 
 
¶6. (SBU) Ambassador said the USG wants to see the legislation 
move forward in Congress and not be weakened in the amendment 
process.  He also noted that the music industry in particular 
does not believe the government's proposal will solve the 
problem, to which the Minister replied that the Government 
has committed to trying this approach first, and if it 
doesn't prove effective, they will come back with additional 
and perhaps stronger measures.  The music industry is 
important to Spain, she said, because it helps promote the 
Spanish language in Latin America and also in the United 
States. 
 
¶7. (U) On another issue, the Minister raised the draft law 
being considered by the Catalan regional legislature that 
would require that foreign films be dubbed or subtitled into 
the Catalan language (ref A).  She placed the issue in the 
context of requirements that television networks finance and 
broadcast Spanish and European films, and said it was also 
related to the transition of televisions and films from 
analog to digital format.  She said the Catalan regional 
government (Generalitat) is responding to public interest in 
promoting the language and sees these other initiatives as 
unnatural and unbalanced.  It is trying to push back, but its 
attempt to require that more films be shown in Catalan is 
risky, as major studios and distributors oppose it.  So do 
movie house owners, who cite low demand because, in their 
experience, even Catalan speakers prefer to see movies in 
Spanish.  Gonzalez-Sinde was not certain whether the regional 
Parliament would pass the law in its current session. 
 
CASSIRER CLAIM 
 
¶8. (SBU) The Ambassador raised the claim of AMCIT Claude 
Cassirer to a Camille Pissarro painting that is currently 
part of the Thyssen Museum's permanent collection.  The 
Ambassador noted that Spain had participated in the 1998 
Washington Conference on Nazi Confiscated Art and in last 
year's Prague Conference.  Spain had signed the Declarations 
of Principles but was in the position of possessing a 
painting that the Nazis had forced its original owner to 
sell.  He cited a German government letter stating that the 
compensation the owner had received from Germany for the 
painting's original disappearance did not extinguish the 
family's claim to restitution or compensation.  Ambassador 
hoped the GOS would facilitate face-to-face negotiations on 
compensation, as opposed to "moral recognition." 
Acknowledging that the claimant has a lawsuit against Spain 
and the Thyssen Foundation before the 9th Circuit Court of 
Appeals, Ambassador asked what prevented the GOS from playing 
a stronger hand outside the legal process. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Minister Gonzalez-Sinde replied that lawyers for the 
MFA and the Museum have advised that Spain is legally barred 
from returning the painting or paying compensation.  She 
offered to speak again to FM Moratinos to see if anything can 
be done.  DG Corral pointed out that Spain had acquired the 
painting legally and in good faith and had no involvement in 
the transaction in which a Nazi art dealer coerced the 
painting from its owner.  The Thyssen Foundation manages the 
collection that includes the painting, but the State owns it. 
 There is no legal way for the State to surrender its 
property absent a judicial order, he said, and the government 
could be sued if it tried.  The State is legally bound to 
protect its property, even at times against its own will. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Spain is sensitive to the family's claim, Corral 
said, but does not believe it can legally negotiate 
compensation.  It might, however, be able to make gestures to 
the family and to the Los Angeles Jewish community.  The 
government could, for example, organize and fund travel to 
Spain and cultural exchanges to promote mutual understanding 
 
MADRID 00000174  003.3 OF 003 
 
 
and appreciation while giving due recognition to the Cassirer 
family. 
 
¶11. (SBU)  Ambassador suggested that the GOS try to come up 
with creative solutions.  At the same time, he undertook to 
convey the GOS concerns to Cassirer's attorneys and to ask 
them to offer a series of options for the government to 
consider.  If there appear to be viable options, they could 
serve as a basis for direct negotiations.  Post will follow 
up with EUR/OHI. 
 
SOLOMONT