US embassy cable - 04BRUSSELS3843

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 003843 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NOFORN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/10/2014 
TAGS: PARM, PINR, IT, FR, EUN, USEU BRUSSELS 
SUBJECT: ANNALISA GIANNELLA, LEADING THE EU AGAINST WMD 
 
REF: USEU BRUSSELS 3497 
 
Classified By: Political Officer Maren Smith for reasons 1.4(b/d). 
 
1. (C) Summary:  Annalisa Giannella, EU High Representative 
Solana's Personal Representative for WMD Non-Proliferation, 
is the key official shaping the EU approach to 
nonproliferation and disarmament.  Her results-oriented 
approach, record of close cooperation with the US, and 
European contacts make her a valuable partner in our efforts 
to counter WMD.  End Summary. 
 
2. (SBU) Javier Solana, the EU High Representative for Common 
Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), on October 10, 2003 named 
Annalisa Giannella his personal representative on WMD issues. 
 The decision to make Giannella Solana's personal 
representative--a position in which she is directly 
accountable only to him--was intended to facilitate her 
appointment and to ensure that Solana, rather than the 
member-states, remained in overall control of developing the 
EU's approach to WMD.  However, she has generally good 
relations with the Member States and is a trusted caretaker 
of their collective nonproliferation interests.  Giannella's 
appointment came too late to give her a significant role in 
developing the EU's WMD Strategy, approved by the European 
Council in December 2003.  She did contribute to updating and 
merging the two documents that formed the Strategy's base, 
the Action Plan and the Declaration of Principles, both of 
which had been drafted by the early-2003 Greek EU Presidency 
(with significant contributions from Robert Cooper, Solana's 
primary strategic thinker; reftel profiles Cooper).  Since 
December 2003, Giannella has worked tirelessly to implement 
the Strategy, which she views as her mandate and roadmap. 
 
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An EU Veteran 
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3. (U) Giannella was born in Bari, Italy in 1949 and joined 
the Council Secretariat in October 1972.  In addition to 
Italian, she speaks fluent English and French.  Until 1994, 
she worked on economic affairs, including environmental 
protection policy and completion of the internal market, with 
a focus on financial services and company law.  She also 
participated in a variety of international negotiations, 
overseeing the Council Secretariat's participation in an 
EEC-Switzerland agreement on insurance, the Lugano Convention 
with EFTA countries, and the International Bankruptcy 
Convention.  Giannella moved to the foreign policy and 
defense sphere in April 1994, when she was appointed Head of 
Division for Security Issues. 
 
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History of Precedent-Setting 
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4. (SBU) Promoted in September 1999 to Director of the 
Council Secretariat's European Security and Defense Policy 
Directorate, she was charged with building a unit that had 
not previously existed.  At the start of the Convention on 
the Future of Europe (which drafted the EU's Constitutional 
Treaty), Giannella was seconded to the Convention 
Secretariat, where she was Secretary-General Sir John Kerr's 
 
SIPDIS 
deputy.  In addition, as the senior Convention staffer on 
defense issues, she worked closely with the chairman of the 
Defense Working Group, Michel Barnier (a Commissioner later 
plucked from Brussels to become the French foreign minister), 
in drafting what became the Constitutional Treaty's 
provisions on ESDP.  At the close of the Convention, Solana 
approached her directly to offer her the WMD post. 
 
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A Forthright and Effective Partner 
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5. (C) We have been extremely impressed by the energy and 
zeal with which Giannella has attacked her work, taking 
charge quickly and getting results fast.  For example, 
earlier this year she proposed that the EU cosponsor with the 
IAEA a series of conferences on fissile material in the 
Caucasus region.  She presented her proposal to the Political 
and Security Committee (PSC), which sent it to Council for 
ministerial-level approval.  Two weeks later, Giannella 
received 3 million euros to support the three conferences--a 
result unprecedented in our experience working with the EU in 
terms of speed and ability to work outside standard 
decision-making lines, and a tactical success that we expect 
her to seek to replicate strategically.  (Note: The 3 million 
euros was disbursed from member state-controlled and very 
hard to tap CFSP funds, not Commission funds, which reflected 
Giannella's desire to both think creatively about funding 
options and to get member states more directly involved in EU 
nonproliferation assistance.)  On the down side, however, we 
have seen her apply the same energy to bad ideas as she does 
to good ones, as when she tried to push ASEAN in a 
politically impossible direction; fortunately, her ideas thus 
far have most often been good. 
 
6. (C) Giannella has also impressed us with her skill in 
assembling a strong team to support her.  Prior to her 
appointment, there were two people in the Council working on 
WMD, proliferation, and disarmament issues.  In less than a 
year, she has expanded her office to eight officers, taking 
advantage of the discretion granted by Solana to select her 
own team without having to factor in member-state 
requirements or political choices.  The quality of her staff 
members--several of whom, including her deputy, Andreas 
Strub, are long-time USEU contacts--reflects Giannella's 
personal recruiting clout as well as her success in making 
her office an appealing and prestigious place despite long 
hours and hard work. 
 
7. (C) Giannella's growing staff reflects her success in 
extending Council competence into new areas.  Her goal, 
however, is not to advance Council interests or build her own 
empire--she is results-oriented, and applies a uniquely 
non-bureaucratic vision to a position that she has had to 
develop from scratch.  Her focus on getting things done has 
led her to circumvent established procedures and 
institutional niceties; as a result, she is not liked by many 
in the Commission, who see her as intruding on their turf. 
 
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Working with the U.S. 
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8. (C/NF) Giannella has demonstrated a strong interest in 
collaborating with the U.S., which she accepts as the EU's 
key partner on proliferation-related issues.  She and her 
staff are consistently approachable and eager to remain in 
close contact.  Although friendly, Giannella is focused on 
business twenty four hours a day--on one occasion, when laid 
up due to back surgery, she held a meeting with a visiting 
PDAS at her home.  In her interactions with us, Giannella has 
been very forthcoming and willing to share information 
without hesitation or restraint--including EU documents that 
would be highly classified in any other system.  She told us, 
for example, about the non-proliferation provisions in the 
draft EU Association Agreement with Syria before the 
Commission and Syrians themselves were informed.  Although 
she has significant influence, her tendency to get out in 
front of the rest of the bureaucracy can also come back to 
bite her, however.  In negotiations of the non-proliferation 
text for this year's U.S.-EU summit, she was forced to walk 
back ad referendum agreements on several issues after a PSC 
meeting, in which member states refused to go along with some 
of the agreed language. 
 
SCHNABEL