US embassy cable - 05PARIS6936

C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 006936 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/07/2015 
TAGS: PREL, EFIN, UK, FR, EUN 
SUBJECT: BLAIR-CHIRAC MEET, LOOKING PAST DISAGREEMENTS TO 
THE FUTURE 
 
 
Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Josiah Rosenblatt for Reaso 
 
ns 1.4(b) and (d). 
 
1.  (C) In an October 7 meeting between EUR PDAS Kurt Volker 
and French MFA Director for European Cooperation, Gilles 
Briatta, Briatta spoke about the discussion that took place 
earlier in the day between British PM Tony Blair and French 
President Jacques Chirac.  Briatta said that during their 
meeting Blair thanked Chirac for his work to ensure that 
Turkey would begin EU accession talks and that Blair wanted 
to "bring closure to prior disagreements and look to the 
future."  While the meeting's purpose, he said, was for Blair 
to discuss the upcoming informal October summit and to 
"straighten out" EU budgetary matters, the general goal of 
the meeting was to determine whether the French would try to 
derail the UK presidency after recent, much publicized, 
disagreements.  Briatta said that Chirac assured Blair that 
France would not play the role of spoiler, adding that the 
British EU presidency needed to succeed if Europe was going 
to succeed. 
 
2.  (C) With regards to the EU budget, Briatta said that the 
indeterminate outcome of the German elections, which, he 
believed, the UK had neither expected nor desired, diminished 
the leverage the UK thought it would have.  He added that 
France, however, understood that it cannot go back to its 
original budget plan and predicted that, in the end, the 
budget would satisfy France's requirements yet contain enough 
modifications to allow the UK to look good or "save face." 
He added that he was sure that Blair had a "Plan B" and 
speculated that something close, but not identical, to the 
"Luxembourg compromise" might emerge as the mutually 
acceptable outcome.  (Note:  The German Ambassador offered a 
similar comment in a September 27 meeting with Ambassador 
Stapleton.) 
 
3.  (C) With the EU Commission in a weakened state, Briatta 
said, both France and the UK understood the importance of a 
good bilateral relationship and that the two countries meet 
"all the time."  He said that the EU presidency has and would 
continue to prove difficult for the UK because it is a 
powerful country and therefore an easy target for criticism 
by smaller member states. 
 
Please visit Paris' Classified Website at: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm 
STAPLETON