US embassy cable - 05HELSINKI1170

UNCLAS HELSINKI 001170 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, EAID, BO, KPAL, IZ, SY, YI, EAGR, MK, ETRD, FI, EUN, EU-GAERC 
SUBJECT: FINNISH VIEWS IN ADVANCE OF NOVEMBER GAERC 
 
REF: STATE 198361 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.  PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY. 
 
1. (SBU) PolChief delivered reftel demarche to EU 
Correspondent Jarno Syrjala, who highlighted the Balkans, 
ICTY cooperation, Syria, Iran and the Middle East Peace 
Process (MEPP) among Finnish priorities for the November 
GAERC. 
 
2. (SBU) BALKANS: Syrjala anticipated (correctly) that former 
Martti Ahtisaari would receive UNSYG Annan's nomination to 
become UN Special Representative for Kosovo, and would 
address the ministers in that capacity during the GAERC's 
lunch meeting.  Further discussion of Kosovo is likely, he 
added, especially as regards options for supporting the 
special envoy.  (Given that Ahtisaari is a former Finnish 
President, providing strong EU support is important for 
Helsinki.)  Syrjala opined that one method the ministers will 
consider for securing adequate EU support both to Ahtisaari 
and to the status determination process would be the 
establishment of an EU Special Representative.  On Macedonia, 
Syrjala said the GOF agreed with reftel's points.  On 
Bosnia-Hertzegovina, he suggested the EU may begin 
considering how best to widen its participation in 
initiatives associated with the stabilization and association 
agreement.  Progress in this area had been delayed due to 
problems in the police reform sector, but these have now been 
remedied and the ministers may be considering ways forward, 
Syrjala said. 
 
3. (SBU) ICTY COOPERATION:  Syrjala expressed the GOF's 
lingering disappointment over the fact that, in October, 
Austria succeeded in "linking" the opening of EU membership 
talks with Turkey to the start of talks with Croatia.  At the 
time, he said, some member states who, like Finland, opposed 
the "linking" tried to convince themselves that Carla del 
Ponte's statements regarding Croatia's "full compliance" with 
the ICTY might mean that "Gotovina would appear in the Hague 
in a week or two."  However, Finland was never this 
optimistic, he lamented, and with each passing week that rosy 
interpretation appears more hollow.  The GOF still expects to 
see Gotovina and others before the ICTY, and takes some small 
consolation in the fact that Croatia's membership process 
"can always slow" if they remain at large. 
 
4. (SBU) Regarding the Middle East, Syrjala offered only a 
few comments.  He said the GOF will support the EU's making a 
strong statement insisting on Syria's cooperation with the 
Hariri murder investigation and its full compliance with 
UNSCR 1559.  However, regarding our talking point urging 
strict non-engagement with Syria, Syrjala noted that 
"isolation has its down sides," and may not win EU consensus 
as a shared course of action.  Regarding the MEPP, Syrjala 
noted that while the Israeli government has made no concrete 
decisions yet regarding Third Party Cooperation, the idea 
might offer the EU a useful role to play in providing 
training and possibly equipment.  On Iran, he suggested that 
the EU needed to come up with strong positions from which to 
re-launch dialogues with Tehran on human rights and the 
nuclear issue.  The latter is particularly pressing, given 
that the next round of IAEA discussions with Iran is 
scheduled for November, he said. 
WERDERMAN