US embassy cable - 04BRUSSELS2541

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRUSSELS 002541 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/ERA AND EUR/UMB 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/15/2009 
TAGS: PARM, PBTS, PREL, OSCEL, EUN, MDD, USEU BRUSSELS 
SUBJECT: EU PUZZLED BY MOLDOVA'S STABILITY PACT INITIATIVE; 
MOSCOW RESPONSE IS KEY 
 
REF: A. A. STATE 1292081. 
 
     B. B. DUBLIN 983 
     C. C. CHISENAU 637 
     D. D. MOSCOW 8164 AND PREVIOUS 
 
Classified By: USEU POLOFF LEE LITZENBERGER; REASONS 1.5 (B,D) 
 
(C)  On June 14, Poloff presented ref (A) demarche to Kees 
Van Rij and Carl Hartzell of the EU Council's Policy Planning 
Staff.  They appreciated the information, and agreed that the 
proposed Stability Pact could have value if -- in modified 
form -- it leads to further Russian engagement.  Thus, 
Russia's response to the demarche would be critical, they 
said.  Van Rij will informally sound the Russians out later 
this week, he said.  If the notion has traction in Moscow, 
the EU would support further discussion, he said, but 
otherwise was skeptical of the proposal's usefulness. 
 
2.  (C)  Van Rij confirmed Dublin's readout (ref B) that EU 
Foreign Ministers meeting June 14-15 in Brussels would not 
reference the Stability Pact proposal directly in their 
public conclusions.  Ministers planned to issue conclusions 
on Moldova, but these are meant to complement an earlier 
private letter from Irish PM Ahern to Russian President Putin 
urging Russia to agree to pentagonal talks as proposed by the 
U.S.  The EU conclusions would include language stressing the 
importance of Moldova's "territorial integrity," but the EU 
needs more time to consider the proposal before issuing a 
public statement on it. Hartzell noted that the proposal is 
viewed by opposition leaders in Moldova as "cheap 
electioneering" by Voronin, and the EU does not want to get 
enmeshed in election politics.  Van Rij said he would query 
Moldovan leaders the initiative later in the week, when they 
come to Brussels to wrap up discussions on a joint "Action 
Plan" under the EU's new European Neighborhood Partnership 
initiative. 
 
3.  (C)  Van Rij said he was puzzled by the Moldovan text, 
which struck him as very "19th century"  and anachronistic. 
It appeared to be directed at Russia and Romania, in an 
effort to elicit their endorsement of Moldova's borders.  He 
and Hartzell questioned how -- and whether -- the proposal 
was linked to the ongoing OSCE 5-sided initiative to resolve 
the Transnistrian conflict.  Van Rij said the Moldovan 
Ambassador in Brussels was "utterly uninformed" about the 
initiative, further raising questions about its origins and 
purpose.  Van Rij noted that the inclusion of Romania was 
"complicated."  It could complicate further Romania's bid to 
join the EU in that it raises the issue of the un-signed 
Romanian-Moldovan border agreement.  The EU's understanding 
is that Romania's response to the Stability Pact has been 
"cautious but interested."  On the one hand, Bucharest was 
encouraged that it was included but, on the other hand, it 
doesn't want to "internationalize" the status of the border 
agreement, which it views as a purely bilateral issue. 
 
SCHNABEL