US embassy cable - 05PARIS6328

C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 006328 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/31/2014 
TAGS: PREL, FR, TU, CY, EUN 
SUBJECT: FRENCH SAY AGREEMENT NEAR ON EU DECLARATION ON 
TURKEY 
 
 
Classified By: Political Minister Counselor Josiah Rosenblatt for reaso 
ns 1.4 (B & D). 
 
1.  (C) Summary:  French MFA DAS-equivalent Ferrari expressed 
optimism on September 15 that the EU would soon come to full 
agreement on the text of a declaration on Turkish 
non-recognition of Cyprus.  She downplayed the risks of a 
Cypriot veto, while indicating that France would continue to 
support references in the draft language to a UN role in a 
Cyprus settlement.  While France supports a review of Turkish 
implementation of the customs protocol in 2006, Ferrari 
indicated that France thus far had no specific benchmarks in 
mind.  She said that an evaluation of insufficient progress 
would lead to delays in opening specific chapters of the 
accession negotiations, but that this would not interrupt the 
negotiations per se.  End Summary. 
 
2.  (C) Pol Deputy and poloff met September 15 with French 
MFA DAS-equivalent Caroline Ferrari to discuss the latest 
state of play on EU negotiation of a declaration on Turkish 
non-recognition of Cyprus to be issued prior to the beginning 
of accession negotiations on October 3. 
 
3.  (C) Ferrari professed optimism that the EU would soon 
reach agreement on the text of the declaration.  She rejected 
any characterization of the discussions as "negative," 
contending they were anything but and that France had 
received considerable support for its position.  She 
downplayed the risk of a Cypriot veto if its demands for more 
conditionality were not accommodated, reiterating that 
agreement on a text was close.  She suggested that the 
Cypriots would need a little time to back off their demands 
in order to take account of domestic political 
considerations.  Asked whether France was at all concerned 
that Turkey might walk away from the accession negotiations 
if the text went too far, Ferrari blamed Turkey for its "faux 
pas" in issuing its earlier declaration. 
 
4.  (C) Pol Deputy asked whether France would allow Cyprus to 
remove the language in the current draft that referred to the 
UN efforts to facilitate a Cyprus settlement, noting it was 
easy to conclude that Turkey was being punished for the 
Cypriots' failure to approve the referendum prior to their 
own accession to the EU.  Ferrari conceded the point, while 
adding that the EU had been "weak once" but should not repeat 
its mistake.  She said France continued to support a UN role 
in facilitating a settlement, implying that it would also 
continue to support language in the declaration to that 
effect. 
 
5.  (C) Pol Deputy asked whether France saw a link between 
language in the declaration and the negotiation framework. 
Ferrari indicated that she did not see a need to transpose 
language in one into the other, although she did not rule it 
out.  Under questioning, she indicated that the French desire 
for a review in 2006 would offer the means "to evaluate" 
Turkish progress in implementing the customs union protocol, 
while conceding that France was not thinking in terms of 
specific benchmarks.  Similarly, she indicated that, while 
France would expect Turkish recognition of Cyprus before 
Turkish accession, it was not seeking mention of a specific 
date.  More likely, she said, would be a decision not to open 
negotiations on certain chapters (i.e., transportation) if 
there were a lack of progress (for instance, on the opening 
of ports and airports) on implementation of the customs 
protocol.  Pol Deputy asked whether failure to open one 
chapter would preclude progress on other chapters; Ferrari 
responded that this would not be the case. 
 
6.  (C) On next steps, Ferrari said that the UK Presidency 
was currently consulting bilaterally with various EU members. 
 She noted that next week's regularly planned C