US embassy cable - 05PARIS1106

C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 001106 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/22/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, FR, EUN 
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR CHALLENGES SOCIALISTS ON EU 
CONSTITUTION CAMPAIGN'S NEGATIVE MESSAGE ON U.S.-EU 
RELATIONS 
 
REF: PARIS 1014 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Howard H. Leach for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1.  (C) Summary: Ambassador Leach and DCM Wolff February 21 
expressed concern to the Socialist Party (PS) leadership 
about the negative message on U.S.-EU relations contained in 
the party's campaign material in support of a yes vote on the 
EU constitution in France's late spring referendum.  In 
conversation with PS First Secretary Francois Hollande, 
former Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, former Finance Minister 
and PS Executive Committee Member Dominique Strauss-Kahn, and 
former Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine, the Ambassador and 
DCM pointed out that encouraging voters to support the 
constitution because it will permit the EU to "stand up to 
the U.S." (reftel) distorted the nature of the U.S.-EU 
relationship and risked undermining the work we have done in 
the past months to put our differences behind us and focus on 
our shared objectives in the world.  In response, Hollande 
insisted that the Socialist message was not a negative one, 
that the PS regarded the U.S. as a friend and ally, and would 
do nothing to damage the relationship.  Hollande agreed to 
"take another look" at the wording of the PS campaign 
material, but did not commit to changing it.  He also 
undertook to make clear in addressing the public that the EU 
was not being built in opposition to the U.S.  End summary. 
 
2.  (C) On learning of the negative message about 
U.S.-European relations contained in the PS's 
pro-constitution campaign material (reftel), Ambassador and 
DCM initiated a series of phonecalls to the PS leadership to 
point out the harm such a campaign could do to our efforts to 
strengthen transatlantic relations -- at the very moment when 
President Bush had begun his European visit, with its very 
positive message.  The Ambassador told Jospin, Strauss-Kahn 
and Vedrine that he anticipated very negative press play, 
should the U.S. media pick up on the story.  This, in turn, 
could undo all of the work we have done together over the 
past months to strengthen the relationship.  All agreed that 
the campaign message posed a problem, and undertook to talk 
with PS First Secretary Francois Hollande about it.  They 
warned, however, that their ability to effect a change in the 
campaign material was limited.  The Ambassador also spoke 
with French Ambassador to the U.S. Jean-David Levitte, who 
agreed that the PS campaign could undermine our efforts to 
put differences behind us. 
 
3.  (C) Hollande, after some delay due to his visit to Spain 
over the weekend, contacted DCM on February 21.  The DCM 
reviewed the reasons for our objecting to the campaign 
message and pressed Hollande to revise the text of the PS 
poster and manifesto, which read, in part, "Yes to a strong 
Europe facing up to the USA" (Oui a une Europe forte face aux 
USA).  "While the reelection of Bush confirms the will of the 
U.S. to decide the fate of the world alone, the Europeans 
cannot afford the luxury of a crisis whose outcome would be 
uncertain.  To say no (to the constitution) today would be to 
paralyze the European construction for the long-term."  The 
DCM made clear that we viewed this language as targeting the 
U.S. and distorting the nature of the transatlantic 
relationship. 
 
4.  (C) Hollande, polite and defensive, said that a native 
French speaker would have a different interpretation of the 
slogan.  Rather than describing an adversarial or 
confrontational relationship, the phrase "facing up to the 
USA" implied a Europe working alongside the U.S. and able to 
stand on its own feet.  Hollande said that he wanted the U.S. 
to know that the PS regarded it as a friend and ally and 
would do nothing to undermine the relationship.  At the same 
time, said Hollande, being allies did not mean that we would 
always agree on every issue.  The DCM responded that he could 
find no better way to characterize the relationship himself. 
Nevertheless, he continued, if it was the PS's intention to 
cast the relationship in those positive terms, the choice of 
language in the slogan was not logical.  There were far more 
direct and unabiguous ways in French to say that we had a 
friendly and allied relationship. 
 
5.  (C) The DCM pressed Hollande again to revise the poster 
and manifesto language and urged Hollande and other PS 
leaders to make clear in their public statements that they 
did not see Europe being built in opposition to the U.S. 
Hollande agreed to "take another look" at the wording of the 
PS campaign material, but did not commit to changing it.  He 
also undertook to make clear in addressing the public that 
the EU was not being built in opposition to the U.S. 
Leach