US embassy cable - 04THEHAGUE1413

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DUTCH: NO E.U. CONSENSUS FOR FIRST STEP AGREEMENT

Identifier: 04THEHAGUE1413
Wikileaks: View 04THEHAGUE1413 at Wikileaks.org
Origin: Embassy The Hague
Created: 2004-06-07 14:00:00
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Tags: EAIR NL
Redacted: This cable was not redacted by Wikileaks.
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

071400Z Jun 04
UNCLAS THE HAGUE 001413 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EB/TRA/YOUNG AND WALKLET; EUR/UBI/HOLLIDAY 
TRANSPORTATION FOR MARY STREET 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAIR, NL 
SUBJECT: DUTCH: NO E.U. CONSENSUS FOR FIRST STEP AGREEMENT 
 
REF: SECSTATE 124593 
 
1.  On June 7 econoff conveyed reftel demarche to Rene 
Fennes, head of International Relations at the Ministry of 
Transport. Fennes reported that among those supporting a 
first step agreement were Spain, the Netherlands and (to his 
recent surprise) now France.  The UK remains "vehemently" 
opposed.  According to Fennes, Secretary Minetta has 
influenced German Transport Minister Stolpe, but many others 
in Stolpe's ministry still oppose a first-step agreement. 
 
2.  Typically pessimistic, Fennes speculated that only "near 
unanimity" among transport ministers in favor of an agreement 
would be sufficient to pressure the staunchest agreement 
opponents to yield. Fennes said no such consensus yet 
existed, and characterized internal member state efforts to 
persuade each other as inconclusive. 
SOBEL 

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