US embassy cable - 05PARIS2231

UNCLAS PARIS 002231 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
FROM USMISSION UNESCO PARIS 
FOR IO/T BOOTH/COWLEY, L/EUR OLSON, L/UNA OSBORN, GENEVA FOR 
PEAY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SCUL, ETRD, UNESCO 
SUBJECT: UNESCO - EC PARTICIPATION IN CULTURAL 
DIVERSITY NEGOTIATIONS (CONTINUED) 
 
Ref:  Paris  01857 
 
1. This is an action request.  See para. 5. 
 
2. As I reported Reftel, the European Union members of 
UNESCO continue their push to have the European Commission 
sit at the table during the next round of cultural diversity 
(CD) negotiations at UNESCO in June alongside other member 
states.  Just this morning we received notification that the 
EU members of the Executive Board have tabled a resolution 
on this topic for the upcoming board meeting that would 
allow the EC to sit behind its own placard and speak at the 
same time as member states during the negotiations.  These 
rights would not include a vote.  The EU presidency has 
convened an information meeting for member states at UNESCO 
on April 7 to discuss their resolution. 
 
3. At the same time, the EU is vigorously lobbying Executive 
Board members.  Sylvia Campbell, Jamaica's UNESCO 
ambassador, told me she met recently with Luxembourg 
Ambassador (and holder of the EU presidency at UNESCO), 
Hubert Wurth.  When Wurth asked why she opposed the EC's 
expanded role, Ambassador Campbell explained that she felt 
it would not be good for the organization but would change 
her position if she received new instructions from her 
capital.  Last weekend, she told me that the EU has made a 
demarche in Kingston, and she now has instructions to 
support the Commission's expanded role. 
 
4. Now that the EU members have tabled a resolution, this 
issue will come to a head during the Executive Board that 
begins April 19.  We are still talking to other delegations, 
but I sense the EU is picking off Executive Board members 
one by one and that this time momentum may be heading in 
their direction.  I see three possible scenarios: 
  (1)  Even if consensus is moving toward the EU's position, 
     we call for a vote (our instructions at the last Executive 
     Board). 
(2)  We abstain, neither joining consensus nor requesting a 
vote (thus assuring continued collegiality but not voting 
for the resolution). 
(3)  We work to craft language that makes absolutely clear 
that EC participation in the CD negotiations will not set a 
precedent for future meetings at UNESCO or other UN bodies 
(not very likely given the number of precedents the EC has 
cited in making their case to this point). 
 
5. Action requested:  Please provide guidance on this 
question as soon as possible. 
 
Oliver