US embassy cable - 04ROME4443

C O N F I D E N T I A L  ROME 004443 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR OES/ENV - JULIE GOURLEY AND JOHN THOMPSON 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/19/2014 
TAGS: AORC, EAGR, ETRD, PREL, SENV, IT 
SUBJECT: ITALIAN RESPONSE TO DEMARCHE ON NEGOTIATIONS 
UNDER GLOBAL AGREEMENT TO PROTECT OZONE LAYER 
 
REF: STATE 245175 
 
Classified By: Scott F. Kilner, Minister Counselor 
for Economic Affairs, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
(U)  Per reftel, on November 18, the Ambassador conveyed 
non-paper to Altero Matteoli, Minister of the Environment 
and Territorial Protection. The Embassy's Minister ounselor 
for Agricultural Affairs delivered th non-paper to the 
office of Agriculture Minister Giovanni Alemanno, as 
well as to several Italian grower organizations interested 
in the methyl bromide issue. As of COB on November 19, 
there has been no official reaction from either ministry. 
 
2.  (C)  We followed up with Federica Fricano (PROTECT), 
the senior adviser to Corrado Clini, General Director of 
the Ministry of Environment, who is currently in Washington. 
Fricano had been in contact with Clini, who reportedly 
touched on next week's extraordinary Meeting of the 
Parties to the Montreal Protocol in Prague with Department 
officials during his visit. 
 
3. (C)  In an unofficial and preliminary reaction to the 
demarche, Fricano told us that the GOI would continue to 
support the U.S. views on critical use exemptions (CUEs) 
in 2006.  Specifically, Italy would continue to support 
the U.S. view that U.S. and other CUE requests should be 
approved based on the language contained in the Montreal 
Protocol that allows CUEs to be approved in cases where 
technically and economically feasible alternatives to 
methyl bromide are not available. 
 
4.  (C)  However, Fricano noted that in contrast to the 
Italian support provided at previous Montreal Protocol 
meetings, Italy would probably not be able to support 
the U.S. position in Prague that the decision process 
of the Methyl Bromide Technical Options Committee (MBTOC) 
for recommending CUEs is flawed.  This change has come 
about because the GOI is involved in difficult ongoing 
negotiations with the European Commission (EC), which 
administers the allocation of the Montreal Protocol CUEs 
within the EU. Following bilateral negotiations with Italy, 
the EC has proposed that Italy reduce its level of CUEs 
by 73 percent in 2005.  According to Fricano, Italy has 
not accepted the proposal and is trying to negotiate a 
better deal before the next EC Management Committee 
meeting on December 9.  She explained that the Ministry 
considers the MBTOC's expertise to be superior to the EC's 
and is arguing that the MBTOC should be seen as an 
"example to emulate" in the EC.  Thus, supporting the U.S.' 
view that the MBTOC recommendations are flawed might 
undermine the Italian arguments with the EC. 
 
 
5.  (SBU)  We will continue to follow up with the 
Ministry of Environment and immediately report any 
further reaction. 
 
 
SEMBLER 
 
 
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 2004ROME04443 - Classification: CONFIDENTIAL