US embassy cable - 05ROME1766

C O N F I D E N T I A L ROME 001766 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
STATE FOR EB/CBA (MERMOUD) AND EUR/WE 
COMMERCE FOR 534 BIS, MAC/EUR, USFCS/ADVOCACY 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/23/2015 
TAGS: BEXP, ETRD, PREL, IT, BUY AMERICA 
SUBJECT: (C) REQUEST FOR SECDEF ADVOCACY ON GE PROPULSION 
OFFER FOR FRENCH-ITALIAN SHIP PROJECT 
 
REF: A. PARIS 3485 
     B. ROME 1465 
 
Classified By: Deputy Chief Of Mission Emil Skodon for reasons 1.4 (b) 
and (d) 
 
1. (C) Action Request: Embassy Rome agrees with Embassy Paris 
(ref A) that letters that we delivered from Secretaries Rice 
and Gutierrez to their Italian counterparts were helpful 
indications of high-level USG interest in General Electric's 
bid to provide gas tubines for the joint French-Italian 
Multi-Mission Frigates (FREMM).  As in France, we understand 
that the Ministry of Defense here will play a decisive role 
in the ultimate decision. Our local GE contacts believe that 
a DOD-MOD letter would be very important (though they still 
hope for direct presidential advocacy, to counter UK Prime 
Minister Blair's direct advocacy with PM Berlusconi). We 
believe that an advocacy letter from Secretary of Defense 
Rumsfeld to Italian Minister of Defense Antonio Martino would 
be helpful, and thus request that the Department, together 
with Commerce, support Embassy Paris' request to DOD for 
letters to the Italian and French Defense Ministers. End 
Action Request. 
 
2. (SBU) Our assessment of the current state of the 
decision-making process on this procurement matches that of 
Embassy Paris.  The Paris Air Show would provide a 
high-profile background for an announcement, and thus appears 
to be the most logical upcoming point for a decision. An 
article in the May 22 "Il Sole 24 Ore," Italy's largest 
financial daily, indicates that both Italy and France want to 
hammer out the details of each country's work on this 
"megacontract" within the next month, making urgent a 
decision on the engine procurement. The article states that 
Italy has held up the decision in part due to concerns about 
the potentially negative effect on the Italian firm Avio 
(which is partnering with GE) should Italy acquiesce to 
France's reported wish to procure the engines from Rolls 
Royce. 
 
SEMBLER 
 
 
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 2005ROME01766 - Classification: CONFIDENTIAL