US embassy cable - 05PARIS5143

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 PARIS 005143 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/25/2015 
TAGS: PREL, KDEM, PHUM, EAID, XF, FR, KMEPI 
SUBJECT: NEA/PI DIRECTOR ROMANOWSKI PROMOTES GREATER 
COOPERATION ON MIDDLE EAST REFORM DURING PARIS VISIT 
 
Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Josiah Rosenblatt, reasons 
1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1. (C) Summary: NEA/PI Director Alina Romanowski stressed the 
need for greater complementarity and information sharing 
between U.S. and French efforts to promote reform in the 
Broader Middle East, during a July 18-20 visit to Paris. 
French officials were receptive to Romanowski's emphasis on 
complementarity, and reaffirmed GoF intent to concentrate on 
revitalizing the Barcelona Process vice BMENA initiatives. 
French officials also described positive shifts in the GoF 
approach to regional reform, with increased emphasis on good 
governance, though the GoF continues to favor cooperation 
with governments over civil society.  French development 
officials were particularly candid in assessing shortcomings 
in the Barcelona Process, difficulties in implementing French 
assistance programs, and lack of GoF political will at the 
highest levels to push Arab governments toward reform.  In a 
sign of increased French willingness to engage positively on 
reform issues, Romanowski was invited to address an 
MFA-sponsored annual conference on international development, 
serving alongside senior UNDP, EU, and GoF representatives in 
a panel discussion on reform efforts in the Middle East/North 
Africa.  End summary. 
 
DISCUSSION WITH MFA NEA A/S-EQUIVALENT THIBAULT 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
2.  (C) During a July 18 meeting, MFA Director 
(A/S-equivalent) for North Africa/Middle East Jean-Francois 
Thibault agreed with Romanowski that the U.S. and EU shared 
common objectives in promoting reform in the region and that 
we should seek to make our mutual efforts more complementary. 
 At the same time, Thibault stressed the need to preserve the 
independence of EU initiatives, as Europe had a special 
strategic relationship with the region. Romanowski reassured 
Thibault that the U.S. had no desire to take over EU 
initiatives and that we wanted to keep our reform efforts 
separate and complementary.  Thibault agreed that better 
transparency and information could help identify gaps or 
redundancies between U.S. and European efforts.  At the same 
time, he observed that the GoF hoped to convince the U.S. 
that its approach was right in focusing more on governments 
than civil society. 
 
3. (C) Romanowski, Thibault, and MFA action officer for BMENA 
issues Brigitte Curmi compared notes on U.S. and French 
approaches on education, particularly in the Maghreb. 
Thibault noted that some 40 percent of French development aid 
in the North Africa/Middle East region was devoted to 
education, with spending concentrated on Morocco, Algeria, 
and Tunisia.  Algeria had made disastrous mistakes in 
dismantling its French-Arabic bilingual education system in 
the 1970's, to the extent that students spoke neither 
language well.  Morocco had similar challenges, with a high 
illiteracy rate and a government education policy in relative 
disarray.  During a recent visit by French FM Douste-Blazy to 
Rabat, the GOM had appealed to the GoF to expand French 
government schools in Morocco, from a current enrollment of 
some 15,000 to up to 30,000.  Thibault complained that the 
GoF did not want to substitute for the GOM in educating 
Moroccans.  Curmi added that the GoF's education assistance 
to Morocco was concentrated on basic education, and training 
teachers and public administrators.  Unlike the U.S., GoF 
education assistance was not focused on curriculum reform or 
assistance to civil society or NGOs; the GoF was trying to 
win the confidence of those who set education policy to help 
foster improvements in basic education as a whole.  Curmi 
concluded that the GoF and USG efforts in Morocco 
complemented each other well. 
 
4. (C) In a brief exchange on democratization, Thibault 
cautioned against opening the Pandora's box of political 
Islam, particularly in Egypt.  Thibault described regional 
governments as vehement in their insistence that moderate 
Islamists do not exist.  He observed personally that 
Islamists were not a monolith, and that it may not be 
impossible to engage with those who share basic democratic 
values.  Romanowski also updated Thibault on U.S. plans to 
move forward on initiatives to establish a regional 
Foundation and Fund for the Future; Thibault said the GoF 
would not oppose the Foundation or Fund initiatives, but 
noted that France's initial reservations about the foundation 
proposal when it was first floated in 2004 remained 
unchanged.  The GoF preferred to concentrate on new EU 
initiatives such as the Alexandria-based Anna Lindh 
Foundation and a new platform to promote Euro-Mediterranean 
NGO cooperation, based in Paris.  Thibault and Curmi agreed 
with Romanowski that it would be useful to share analyses on 
NGOs in the region to determine which ones were worthy of 
support. 
 
DISCUSSION WITH COOPERATION/GOVERNANCE OFFICIAL 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
5. (C) Herve Magrot, head of the MFA Directorate-General on 
International Cooperation (DGCID) Office on Governance, 
offered Romanowski a candid assessment of the GoF approach on 
reform issues during a wide-ranging discussion July 19. 
Magrot described the recent renaming of his office, from 
"institutional cooperation" to "governance," as a major 
positive shift.  (Magrot quipped that in an earlier posting 
at the French UN mission in Geneva, he was regularly 
instructed to oppose references to "good governance" in CHR 
texts.)  According to Magrot, the new GoF emphasis on 
governance resulted largely from DGCID discussions with NGOs, 
who complained that France was doing too much state-to-state 
cooperation.  DGCID governance efforts focused on three main 
areas: financial governance, rule of law, and modernization 
of the state, to include improving administration and 
decentralization.  While sub-Saharan Africa remained the 
largest recipient of DGCID governance funds, the Middle 
East/North Africa region had significant needs as well, and 
received some 5.6 million euros for governance in 2004. 
According to Magrot, the problem with NEA countries, 
especially those in the Maghreb, was that they were too close 
to France, which made it more difficult to establish 
strategic priorities.  In the case of the Maghreb, the 
proliferation of cooperation initiatives by multiple GoF 
ministries created additional difficulties in prioritizing 
aid. 
 
6. (C) Magrot reported that the top five recipients of French 
assistance in the NEA region remained (in descending order) 
Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, and Lebanon. (Note: These 
five countries received 91 percent of French development aid 
for the NEA region in 2003.  End note.)  Magrot observed that 
the GoF was trying to increase its governance activities in 
the Gulf region as well, and cited a DGCID-sponsored 
conference on justice in Qatar in October 2004.  With the 
vast majority of DGCID funding determined by embassies in the 
field, Magrot stressed the importance of increased dialogue 
between U.S. and French missions on the ground, in order to 
better target our mutual assistance programs and reduce 
redundancies.  Magrot cited the cooperation between French 
and U.S. ambassadors in Lebanon as a model to follow, though 
it remained the exception to the rule.  Protectiveness over 
French language programs and commercial competition often led 
French diplomats in the field to eschew closer cooperation 
with U.S. counterparts.  Magrot suggested that the U.S. 
consider sending more French diplomats on exchange programs 
in the U.S. in order to overcome ignorance or mistrust of the 
U.S. (Note: Magrot spent a tour in Washington as the NEA 
watcher at the French embassy in the 1990's.  End note.) 
Romanowski suggested that the Marshall fellowship and NDU 
NESA program could be of possible interest to French 
diplomats. 
 
7. (C) According to Magrot, the most significant difference 
between the U.S. and French approaches on reform was the 
French emphasis on working with governments over civil 
society.  Though the GoF did some work with civil society, 
its overwhelming focus remained on how to help Arab 
governments function better, which did not mean bigger 
government.  Like his MFA colleagues, Magrot concluded that 
the U.S. and French efforts were highly complementary. 
Unlike his MFA colleagues, however, Magrot conceded that 
another difference between the U.S. and French approaches was 
the disconnect between assistance and political leverage in 
France.  While the GoF had the technical capacity to offer 
governance assistance, it lacked the political will to push 
Arab governments to make implementation of such programs 
successful.  For instance, the GoF had spent a lot training 
Egyptian journalists, but the lack of press freedoms in Egypt 
made it difficult for the journalists to use their new skills 
in a meaningful way.  Since the U.S. had the political will 
to pressure Arab governments, Magrot suggested that the U.S. 
should devote more effort to working with governments, and 
not bypass governments in favor of civil society.  Another 
disappointment cited by Magrot was Syria, where the GoF had 
launched one of its largest governance programs in the 
region, based on an earlier personal request from President 
Asad to Chirac to help Syria modernize its administration, 
judiciary, finance, and political system.  The GoF sent two 
evaluation missions and delivered a number of reports to 
President Asad in 2003, but with the deterioration in 
GoF-SARG relations in 2004 over UNSCR 1559, Syria abruptly 
terminated the program.  Romanowski observed that it could be 
useful to have deeper discussions on Syria, as waivers in 
restrictions on U.S. assistance might allow for limited MEPI 
funding of NGOs in Syria. 
 
8. (C) Asked to explain the European Commission's (EC) 
reluctance to deepen dialogue with the U.S. on assistance to 
the region, Magrot said the problem had to do with the EC's 
relations with U.S., as well as the relationship between the 
Commission and member states.  In terms of relations with the 
U.S., there was considerable dismay in Europe last year when 
the U.S. launch of the BMENA initiative was seen as 
downplaying and overshadowing the long-standing Barcelona 
Process, which led member states to push the EC to focus on 
protecting the independence of EU programs.  Now, with the 
fear of the U.S. taking over EU programs no longer valid, 
member states could help encourage the EC to broaden 
exchanges with the U.S. on reform-related assistance.  Magrot 
added that he viewed positively BMENA's moving beyond the G-8 
context, as France had its own "issues" with the G-8 which 
further complicated its response to BMENA. 
 
9. (C) In closing, Magrot described difficulties in the 
French education efforts in Morocco, noting that the GoF was 
overwhelmed by demands from the GOM and trying to help close 
the gap between well-educated elites and the masses.  The 
issue was not merely educating more people but providing job 
opportunities for graduates; improving education without 
addressing lack of opportunity, in Magrot's view, would 
simply create better educated terrorists.   He concluded that 
the GoF could "not do it alone" in Morocco and was trying to 
launch multilateral initiatives.  He agreed with Romanowski 
that it would be useful to exchange papers on education 
programs in Morocco, and also concurred that further U.S.-GoF 
in-depth exchanges on reform-related assistance to Morocco 
and Egypt could be useful. 
 
DGCID CONFERENCE ON DEVELOPMENT 
------------------------------- 
 
10. (U) In a sign of more positive French engagement on BMENA 
issues, Romanowski was the only U.S. official invited to 
speak at a two-day annual DGCID global conference on 
international development (to be reported septel), at which 
she joined a July 19 panel on regional reform efforts with 
A/S-equivalent Thibault, EC Director for New Neighbors/MEDA 
issues Richard Weber, and Jordan-based UNDP representative 
Rima Khalaf.  Before an audience of some 200 French 
development experts, cultural attaches, and NGO 
representatives, Romanowski explained the President's freedom 
agenda in detail, offering concrete examples of MEPI projects 
throughout the region and stressing the complementarity 
between the U.S. and European approaches.  A/S Thibault, 
while cautioning that reform could not be imposed on the 
region by a Western front, put greater emphasis on 
democratization than usual and stressed the need to support 
modernizers wherever they may be, in government or civil 
society.  Weber described EU reform-related efforts in the 
region as a comprehensive process, involving promotion of 
literacy/education, rule of law, and good governance.  He 
also suggested that France broaden its focus on the region 
beyond the Maghreb.  Khalaf, meanwhile, observed widespread 
agreement that reform must be home-grown, but questioned how 
inclusive the process should be, and whether it should 
include Islamists or Ba'thists, for example.  She also called 
on the U.S. and Europe to expand the scope of assistance to 
the region to focus on freedom and knowledge deficits and 
status of women.  Khalaf called on the EU to make better use 
of the Barcelona Process and for France to move beyond 
country-specific cooperation to a more regional approach, 
more like UNDP. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
11. (SBU) The Romanowski visit was important in helping to 
move our dialogue with the French on BMENA issues towards a 
more constructive and pragmatic approach.  Her discussions 
with GoF officials and briefing at the DGCID development 
conference helped dispel outdated misperceptions that the 
U.S. is seeking to impose reform on the region or to merge 
U.S. and EU initiatives.  Post will continue to follow up 
with GoF officials, particularly in the DGCID, to seek 
greater information sharing on reform related programs in 
Morocco and Egypt, as well as encourage the GoF to take a 
more supportive approach to U.S. proposals for the Foundation 
and Fund for the Future.  On the latter topic, more 
high-level Washington visitors on BMENA issues could help 
push the French toward a more constructive position in the 
run-up to the Forum for the Future in November.  End comment. 
 
 
 
STAPLETON