US embassy cable - 05PARIS4154

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 004154 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/10/2015 
TAGS: PREL, FR, EUN 
SUBJECT: ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRIED'S PARIS MEETING WITH MFA 
POLITICAL DIRECTOR DE LABOULAYE 
 
REF: PARIS 4153 
 
Classified By: Charge d'affaires Alex Wolff for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
. 
 
1.  (C) Summary: MFA Political Director Stanislas de 
Laboulaye told visiting Assistant Secretary Daniel Fried June 
8 that French and Dutch voters' rejection of the EU 
constitution had precipitated a crisis in European affairs. 
This was not the EU's first such set-back, but it was serious 
and would require careful thinking on next steps.  Laboulaye, 
in contrast to Elysee Diplomatic Advisor Gourdault-Montagne 
(reftel), thought it would be wisest to halt the 
constitutional ratification process in order to avoid more 
voter rejection and a deepening crisis.  Concerns over EU 
enlargement, including a diminished sense of job security, 
and fears that their social welfare guarantees were under 
attack from an EU moving rapidly towards a free-market, 
"Anglo-Saxon" economic model, caused many in France to vote 
no.  This would necessitate much more careful deliberation on 
future EU enlargements.  Agreeing on the need to continue 
U.S.- EU cooperation in addressing world problems, Laboulaye 
said solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict should be a 
major shared priority.  End summary. 
 
2.  (C) Assistant Secretary Fried met in Paris June 8 with 
MFA Political Director Stanislas de Laboulaye.  Participants 
included: 
 
U,S. 
---- 
 
A/S Fried 
Charge Alex Wolff 
Acting DAS Kathy Allegrone 
A/POL Paul Mailhot (notetaker) 
 
France 
------ 
 
Political Director de Laboulaye 
Director for Strategic and Security Affairs Philippe Carre 
Director for Near East and North African Affairs Bernard 
Thibault 
Common Foreign and Security Policy Unit Chief Jean-Louis 
Falconi 
DAS-equivalent for North American Affairs Odile Roussel 
 
3.  (C) As he had during his meeting a day earlier with 
Elysee Diplomatic Advisor Gourdault-Montagne (reftel), A/S 
Fried opened his meeting with MFA Political Director de 
Laboulaye by stating that he had initiated his visit to 
France, Italy and Germany to assure governments and publics 
that the U.S. wanted Europe to remain a strong partner and 
not to turn inward as a result of voters' rejection in France 
and the Netherlands of the EU constitution.  The U.S. and 
Europe had worked hard over the last two years to repair 
their relationship after the damage caused by our 
disagreement over Iraq.  We are now cooperating effectively 
on Iraq, Iran, the Broader Middle East, Syria/Lebanon, and 
the Middle East peace process.  We have good, workable 
arrangements in place for NATO-EU cooperation.  We have even 
initiated a strategic dialogue on China, so that our 
discussion of the EU arms embargo does not occur in a vacuum. 
 We are making progress on our common agenda and we want to 
maintain the momentum.  A confident Europe able to maintain 
an EU perspective for the Balkans states, and if not 
immediately, eventually for Turkey and Ukraine and others on 
the EU's eastern borders will remain a force for peace and 
stability on the continent.  Our positive agenda will be a 
major focus of the U.S.- EU summit June 21-22. 
 
4.  (C) Laboulaye said France shares these same objectives, 
but noted that the votes in France and the Netherlands had 
ushered in "a time of reflection" in the EU.  In fact, it 
could very probably be called a crisis.  Even though the EU 
had weathered crises before, the votes posed an existential 
dilemma for the EU.  "It's about what we want to do," as a 
union, and a question that will not be solved at the June 
16-17 European Council.  A first question, made even more 
current by the British decision to suspend their process, is 
whether to continue with the constitutional ratification 
process or to give it up as a lost cause, Laboulaye said.  An 
argument could be made that it is necessary to continue the 
process, de Laboulaye said.  However, in contrast to the 
Elysee's Gourdault-Montagne, Laboulaye said that continuing 
might just set up the EU for more no votes and even deeper 
crisis, and it might therefore be wisest to call a halt to 
the process. 
 
5.  (C) Voters' uneasiness over enlargement and their lack of 
acceptance of the most recent, 10-member expansion, were 
major factors accounting for the no vote in France, Laboulaye 
went on.  There is a wide-spread perception among voters that 
they were not sufficiently consulted about the most recent 
enlargement.  This bred resentment as voters found that their 
lives were directly affected by the "delocalization" of jobs 
to the east and the influx of low-wage workers from the new 
member countries.  In addition, many in France felt that 
their social welfare benefits were under threat from a 
leadership bent on implementing a free-market, "Anglo-Saxon" 
economic system throughout the EU.  The vote in France 
pointed up disturbing divisions, with cities and the 
well-to-do voting for the constitution and the country-side 
and less-well-off voting overwhelmingly against.  France will 
have to step back and deal with these issues. 
 
6.  (C) Laboulaye recalled that new Prime Minister Dominique 
de Villepin had made reducing unemployment his government's 
top priority, in direct response to the fears among French 
workers that lay behind their no votes on the constitution. 
Germany, too, will focus on strengthening domestic economic 
and social conditions in the wake of the no votes.  Moreover, 
France will seek to reinforce its conception of a supportive 
social model at the European level, but may well encounter 
opposition from the UK, which will exert significant control 
over the agenda as UK presidency nation starting July 1. 
"This could lead to tension at the beginning of the EU 
presidency," Laboulaye said.  Inevitably, France will have to 
be more inward looking before it can begin again to try to 
shape the kind of Europe it wants. 
 
7.  (C) The defeat of the constitution will also cause France 
to "reflect on EU enlargement" which has not been popular. 
Immigration policy, even more of an issue in the Netherlands 
than in France, will also have to be examined.  So pervasive 
are these concerns that many believe that had Italy, Germany 
and others in "old Europe" mounted referendums on the 
constitution, their populations, too, would have voted no, 
Laboulaye said.  For Romania and Bulgaria, the process will 
likely move forward, but this will have to be discussed.  For 
the Balkans, while French diplomats may agree on the need to 
preserve the incentive of prospective EU membership, most 
French voters will be much more reserved, and the government 
will have to be responsive, Laboulaye said.  A/S Fried 
cautioned that retrenchment could lead only to perpetuation 
of a downward economic spiral.  The solution lies in a 
political leadership able to explain the benefits to 
continental stability entailed in maintaining a European 
future for the Balkans states.  While we want no voice in 
European constitutional arrangements, we do want to continue 
to have a strong Europe as a partner on such issues as 
promoting democracy in the Broader Middle East, and ending 
the violence and helping people in distress in Darfur. 
 
8.  (C) Europe will need time "to reflect on how to put the 
pieces back together," Laboulaye responded.  Decision-making 
is proving time-consuming and difficult with 25 members. 
France wants the EU to speak with one voice, not in a 
collection of voices.  This will be difficult, but the U.S. 
can help by avoiding playing one member off another, 
Laboulaye went on.  Inter-state relations will be far more 
sensitive within the EU in the wake of the no votes.  Any 
exploitation of differences "over a small question, like 
Darfur," for example, could precipitate wider 
misunderstanding.  A/S Fried responded, saying that the U.S. 
was not seeking to divide EU members.  He warned, in turn, 
that Europe should not seek to forge artificial unity by 
setting up Europe as a counterweight to the U.S. or behaving 
as if NATO "were a carrier of disease."  We have to focus on 
our shared, positive agenda. 
 
9.  (C) Laboulaye agreed and said that the 
Israeli-Palestinian conflict was perhaps the most important 
issue on which Europe and the U.S. could work together.  It 
was continually surprising, he said, how central this 
question was for most Europeans, while it remained of only 
peripheral concern in the U.S.  Like the Dreyfus Affair of a 
century ago, the topic is never absent from conversations 
among the French.  The U.S. has a decisive role to play. 
President Bush's statements during Palestinian Prime Minister 
Abbas's visit to Washington last week were encouraging.  Both 
the U.S. and Europe want Israeli Prime Minister Sharon to 
succeed with Gaza withdrawal.  If he does so, it will be 
important for him to move quickly thereafter to initiate a 
withdrawal from the West Bank.  A/S Fried said it was 
essential that Gaza withdrawal succeed.  This could create 
the momentum needed to move to the next stage in the West 
Bank.  Failure in Gaza, however, would set the process back 
for years.  Sharon's commitment was important, but so too, 
was Abbas's to tightening security and cracking down on 
terrorism. 
 
10.  (U) A/S Fried cleared this message. 
WOLFF