US embassy cable - 05BRUSSELS2674

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRUSSELS 002674 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SA AND EUR 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/12/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, PTER, PHUM, EU, USEU BRUSSELS 
SUBJECT: EU CLAIMS NO CHANGE ON NEPAL POLICY 
 
REF: STATE 126758 
 
Classified By: PolOff Sarah Groen for reasons 1.4 (b,d) 
 
 1.  (C) SUMMARY:  PolOff delivered reftel discussion points 
to interlocutors at the European Commission and Council and 
the UK Permrep on July 11.  All said no "policy statement" on 
Nepal was being prepared, but the UK Presidency was preparing 
an informal "internal discussion paper" on Nepal for a July 
13 meeting of Council, Commission and Presidency officials on 
Asia.  The discussion paper did not include the language 
mentioned in demarche cable, and EU contacts said their 
position on Nepal (i.e. that criticism of the King's takeover 
does not in any way equate to support for the Maoists) has 
not changed since the last high-level discussions with 
Washington.  END SUMMARY. 
 
2.  (C) On July 11, PolOff spoke with Rensje Teerink 
(Commission desk officer for Nepal), Antonio Tanca (filling 
in for the South Asia administrator at the European Council), 
and James Morrison, (political officer handling Asia at the 
UK Permrep in Brussels).  All said they were unaware of any 
paper or policy statement being prepared on Nepal.  Morrison 
said he would check with London, and came back with news of 
the "discussion paper" being prepared for the July 13 
meeting.  He said he did not have the text of the paper, but 
thought it was unlikely it would represent any significant 
departure from the EU's previous position. 
 
3.  (C) Officials from the Commission, Council and Presidency 
convened on July 13 for a meeting of the COASI troika (in the 
"capitals format," meaning Presidency officials from London 
and Kathmandu attended).  Teerink said the discussion paper 
was presented, but that it did not contain the draft text 
cited in the discussion points.  She said much of the 
discussion on Nepal centered on the COASI troika's planned 
trip to Nepal in early October.  Ambassador Bloomfield, the 
UK envoy to Nepal, seemed surprised by the demarche, as did 
the London presidency officials, she said. 
 
4.  (C) Teerink provided an excerpt from the discussion 
paper, as follows:  "We should make clear to the Government 
of Nepal that the EU remains supportive of a constitutional 
monarchy in the context of multi-party democracy and a freely 
elected civilian government, and make clear to the Maoists 
that they should not mistake our criticism of the King's 
takeover and subsequent actions as meaning the EU in any way 
supports them." 
 
5.  (C) COMMENT:  The demarche seemed to take Brussels EU and 
UK Permrep contacts by surprise, with all contacts asking how 
the U.S. knew about the supposed draft points (which they 
claim were not included in the discussion paper in any case). 
 All agreed that the discussion paper and the July 13 troika 
meeting led to no meaningful change in the EU's position on 
Nepal.  END COMMENT. 
 
MCKINLEY 
.