US embassy cable - 05BRUSSELS1484

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 001484 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR IO/EDA, EUR/ERA; PASS USAID FOR PPC/DCO 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/14/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PINR, EAID, SP, UNDP, EUN, USEU BRUSSELS 
SUBJECT: SALAFRANCA PUSHES HIS CANDIDACY FOR UNDP 
 
REF: A. A) BRUSSELS 1389 
     B. B) MADRID 1104 
     C. C) ZUNIGA/BEHREND/SAINZ E-MAILS MARCH 2005 
     D. D) LERNER/BEHREND/HUIZINGA E-MAILS MARCH 2005 
     E. E) 04 BRUSSELS 4080 AND PREVIOUS 
 
Classified By: USEU POLOFF TODD HUIZINGA, FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D) 
 
 1. (C) SUMMARY:  Following up on previous approaches to 
USEU, Embassy Madrid and USINT Havana (REFS B-D), Spanish 
member of the European Parliament (MEP) Jose Ignacio 
Salafranca solicited support from USEU again on April 7 for 
his candidacy for UNDP Administrator.  Salafranca is well 
known to USEU as an influential MEP who has worked closely 
and constructively with us on many issues.  We understand he 
does not appear on the UNSYG's short list, and has little 
chance for the job.  Salafranca is an expert on Latin 
America, but to our knowledge he has no direct experience 
managing development issues.  We told Salafranca the U.S. has 
not taken a position yet on any of the candidates.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
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SPAIN'S CANDIDATE, BUT FROM OPPOSITION 
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2. (C) Salafranca pressed his candidacy with us again on 
April 7, stressing that, although he was the Spanish 
government's candidate, he was not a member of the governing 
Socialist Labor Party.  Rather, he is a member of former 
President Aznar's Partido Popular.  He said he had asked 
Aznar to approach the USG on his behalf, and that the Aznar 
government's former Foreign Minister Ana de Palacio had 
spoken recently to Secretary Rice urging U.S. support for his 
candidacy.  He said the current Spanish government, though 
having named him as the GOS's candidate, was not 
enthusiastically lobbying for him because he belongs to the 
opposition.  This had given him a disadvantage compared to 
other candidates, despite the broad support he enjoyed.  His 
greatest support came from Latin American governments, he 
claimed, but several countries in Africa and many EU member 
states in which center-right governments were in power also 
supported him.  He asserted that leaders in the European 
Commission had also indicated their support, but could not 
take an official position because two other EU member states, 
the UK and the Netherlands, also had fielded candidates. 
 
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CLAIMS SUPPORT STRONG DESPITE SHORT LIST 
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3. (C) Salafranca handed us a copy of the UNSYG's short list 
of candidates, dated March 22.  His name was not among the 
six names on the list.  He said leaders of the European 
People's Party (EPP), the umbrella organization within the EU 
of member-state center-right parties, had urged UNSYG Annan 
to include Salafranca on the short list.  Salafranca added 
that the Ambassadors to the UN of Chile, Argentina, Dominican 
Republic, Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, 
Uruguay, Mexico, Poland, Ukraine, Armenia, Lithuania, and 
Tunisia had approached Annan's office as well, supporting his 
candidacy despite his absence from the short list. 
Salafranca said several contacts in New York had told him 
that Mark Malloch Brown, who left the post of UNDP 
Administrator to become UNSYG Annan's Chief of Staff, was not 
consistently forwarding information on Salafranca's candidacy 
to Annan.  He asserted that the reason for this was 
Brown's support of the candidacy of fellow Briton, Baroness 
Valerie Amos. 
 
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SALAFRANCA HAS WORKED WELL WITH USEU 
------------------------------------ 
 
4. (C) Salafranca is the leader of the center-right in the 
European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee.  He has worked 
closely with USEU on a range of issues over the past two 
years.  A Latin America expert, Salafranca has echoed and 
sometimes explicitly supported U.S. policy on Venezuela, 
Colombia and above all, Cuba (REF E).  Currently, he is 
working to drum up EU-wide support among center-right 
parliamentarians for the Cuban opposition; he is also a vocal 
critic of the January 31 EU decision to suspend the EU 
restrictive measures against Cuba (REF A).  In 2003-04, 
Salafranca seconded Spanish President Aznar's support for 
U.S. Iraq policy, and in September he authored a European 
Parliament resolution on Iraq urging EU support for Iraq 
reconstruction.  Significantly for the European Parliament, 
the resolution included no criticism of the U.S. role in 
Iraq. 
 
5. (C) Salafranca's qualifications on development issues are 
less evident, related primarily to his expertise on Latin 
America.  He is well traveled, well versed and widely known 
in the region, and has chaired the European Parliament 
Subcommittee on Central America, Mexico and Cuba.  He was the 
European Parliament representative at the EU-Latin America 
Summits in 2002 (Madrid) and 2004 (Guadalajara), and chaired 
European Parliament election observation missions in Peru 
(2000) and Colombia (2002).  Salafranca does not appear to 
have extensive administrative experience, nor any direct 
experience in managing development programs. 
 
MCKINLEY 
.