US embassy cable - 05ROME3068

C O N F I D E N T I A L  ROME 003068 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/14/2015 
TAGS: PREL, KDEM, IZ, IR, IT, NATO 
SUBJECT: EUR P/DAS VOLKER'S ROME CONSULTATIONS 
 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Ronald Spogli, for reasons 1.4 (b)(d). 
 
1.  (C)  Summary.  During his visit to Rome, EUR P/DAS 
Volker discussed the Fund and Foundation for the Future, NATO 
and 
EU expansion, NATO/EU cooperation, Russia, and Latin 
America.  Overall, the GOI shares our optimism that Europe 
will 
recover from the EU constitution debacle and that Turkish 
accession talks should proceed as scheduled.  They agree we 
must better utilize NATO and the EU as institutions to 
promote a global democracy agenda and support the 
Fund/Foundation in principle as long as we can avoid 
duplication of the Barcelona Process. Italy's growing 
economic energy interest with Russia continues to dampen 
their concerns about Putin's domestic agenda.  End 
Summary. 
 
2.  (U)  EUR P/DAS Kurt Volker visited Rome September 6. 
Septel reports on his MFA meeting.  Ambassador Spogli 
hosted Volker for lunch with Gianpaolo Scarante, Deputy 
Diplomatic Advisor to PM Berlusconi and Achille Amerio, 
Diplomatic Advisor to Defense Minister Martino. Volker also 
held a public diplomacy meeting with Italian journalists 
and think tanks. 
 
3.  (C)  During lunch, Volker described his trip as being 
part of an effort to follow through on President Bush,s 
renewed effort to strengthen work with Europe in addressing 
common challenges.  He said we know we have to work together 
to solve global challenges and engage in the war of ideas. 
We want to engage  Europe on challenges outside Europe 
while we continue to also make progress on Balkans issues. 
On NATO/EU, Volker stressed the importance of making these 
institutions effective instruments to implement shared 
goals rather than allowing institutional rivalries become 
obstacles to achieving those goals. 
 
4.  (C)  In response to Scarante,s question on the future 
of Europe, Volker said the administration was optimistic. 
Blair,s re-election, Berlusconi,s electoral prospects, plus 
better relations with France and Germany (with or without 
Chirac and Schroeder) and improved chances for center-right 
wins in Poland and elsewhere put us in a better position 
strategically than at any point in the last ten years. 
However, on EU enlargement prospects, Scarante and Amerio 
lamented decisions to hold referendums on the EU 
constitution and said that Europe would need some time to 
reflect and focus on domestic economic concerns.  Scarante 
said this may delay Turkey's entry into the EU, but Italy 
continued to support the October 3 deadline for beginning 
accession talks.  Overall, they said, Italy is also 
optimistic about Europe,s future. 
 
5.  (C)  Amerio expressed concern about NATO losing its 
identity and urged efforts to strengthen the political 
component of its leadership, perhaps through expanded PfP 
activities and more cooperation with the EU and UN. Volker 
agreed, noting that NATO,s Mediterranean dialogue had been 
weak and lacked  outreach to the Persian Gulf.  This was a 
key reason for the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative and 
strengthening of the Med dialogue.  He suggested that perhaps 
non-NATO EU states should be drawn closer into SHAPE planning 
and integration activities, if we could convince Turkey to 
support this.  On NATO enlargement, Volker said we wanted to 
promote continued reform in the Adriatic Charter three by 
keeping prospects open for membership, but it was too soon 
to address this issue in 2006.  We should plan to address 
membership in 2008. 
 
6.  (C) On BMENA, Volker said our interest was to build on 
the Sea Island Summit/Forum for the Future to increase 
support beyond the G-8 countries, especially since we were 
not convinced Russia would adequate address this initiative 
during its presidency.  He described the Foundation and 
Fund proposals and urged Italian support.  Scarante said PM 
Berlusconi supported the idea in principle but there were 
many Middle East initiatives and it was important to avoid 
duplication.  He noted that Italy has a lot of experience 
in small business development in the Balkans.  Italy would 
need to see how these new proposals fit into the Barcelona 
Process, but admitted it was not clear where Barcelona was 
going. 
 
7.  (C) Scarante confirmed that A/S Fried,s message on the 
importance of encouraging democracy in Russia had been 
passed by PM Berlusconi during his meetings with President 
Putin at Socci.  Discussions there were focused on economic 
issues, especially commercial energy cooperation, which grew 
by 55 percent in the last year (albeit with some help from 
rising oil prices).  Volker noted that we had had high hopes 
during Putin,s early days but were increasingly disappointed 
over  centralization of power, heavy-handed dealings with the 
Chechens, and Russia,s role in neighboring states.  Scarante 
said the Russians remained very concerned about states they 
believe are in Moscow,s sphere of influence; Volker replied 
that we have to convince Russia that Ukraine and others are 
now independent countries, and it is in Moscow,s interest to 
have strong, democratic, market-oriented and prosperous 
countries on its borders.  Amerio (who served in Moscow) 
commented that what was lacking was not democracy per se, 
but a series of checks and balances and development of 
horizontal, rather than just top-down, structures in 
government 
and society. 
 
8.  (C) In response to a Scarante question, Volker said our 
main issues of concern in South America were Venezuela and 
Cuba.  In both cases, we would like to see EU countries 
adopt a more visible role in promoting democracy.  In the 
case of Chavez, he uses European silence to try and single 
out the U.S. as his only detractor.  On Cuba, we want to 
ensure that when the "wall" there falls, there will be 
democratic political activists in place in the model of 
Vaclev Havel in Velvet Revolution Prague.  We were 
disappointed, 
therefore, by EU decisions that discouraged meetings with 
political dissidents. 
 
9.  (U)  During a roundtable with press and think tanks: 
Volker expressed thanks for Italy,s Katrina relief, briefed 
the group on the new BMENA Foundation and Fund for the 
Future initiatives and answered questions.  On BMENA, there 
was a suggestion by Italian participants that civil society 
building be concentrated on development of political parties. 
There was a lively discussion of whether the Iran nuclear 
issue would divide the U.S. and the EU. 
 
10. (U) P/DAS VOLKER HAS CLEARED THIS MESSAGE. 
 
SPOGLI 
 
 
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 2005ROME03068 - Classification: CONFIDENTIAL