Cablegate: Cautious French Interest in Parnership for Better
VZCZCXRO1632
PP RUEHAST
DE RUEHFR #4650/01 1880927
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 070927Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9290
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA PRIORITY 0704
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0799
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 2430
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 004650
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PHUM EAID UNGA FR
SUBJECT: CAUTIOUS FRENCH INTEREST IN PARNERSHIP FOR BETTER
GOVERNANCE
PARIS 00004650 001.2 OF 002
1. (SBU) Summary: Policy Planning (S/P) Director Dr.
Stephen Krasner met with French officials and MFA consultants
June 23-24 to discuss the nascent initiative for a
"Partnership for Better Governance Group" (PBGG). Krasner
explained the PBGG would be a multilateral effort with
interested developing states to facilitate the provision of
specific state functions, for instance in health care,
education, justice, etc. It would not be a one-size-fits-all
template; programs would be tailored to the needs of
recipient countries in specific areas. French interlocutors
welcomed the core strategic goals, stressed the need for the
UN to play a foundational role, but posed questions about
possible redundancy with the UN Peacebuilding Commission.
The IO/UN Adviser to the French Presidency cautioned against
the likelihood of misperceptions of the PBGG, absent a UN
lead, as a vehicle for a "hidden agenda" of U.S.
transformational diplomacy. Dr. Krasner indicated a
willingness to consider UNDP ownership of the PBGG. End
Summary.
2. (SBU) Pierre Levy, Director of the "Centre d'Analyse et
Prevision" (CAP), the MFA S/P counterpart, hosted a luncheon
discussion on June 23 with MFA consultants Professors Bassma
Kodmani-Darwish (College de France, proponent of the "Arab
Reform Initiative"), Ghassan Salame (Institute for Political
Sciences, former Lebanese Cultural Minister), and Africa
specialist Professor Richard Banegas (Univerity of Paris-I).
Levy indicated interest in clarification of the mechanics of
PBGG administration and its relationship with the UN and
other extant assistance initiatives.
3. (SBU) Professor Kodmani-Darwish asked how PBGG fit into
the broader agenda of democracy promotion, particularly in
the Middle East. Jordan, she mused, might be willing to
engage with the PBGG, unlike Egypt, which would want to
maintain its "jobs program" bureaucracy. Dr. Krasner
underscored that PBGG assistance, unlike previous technical
assistance programs, would be time-limited and would require
accountability measurements. Kodmani-Darwish advocated
expansion of civil society agents to provide feedback on
state performance and accountability.
4. (SBU) Professor Banegas observed there was general
resistance in African states to efforts to promote checks and
balances in governance, because these are seen as empowering
the opposition. He noted the value in articulating standard
indicators by which to measure the success of good governance
programs. Former Lebanese Culture Minister Salame opined
that the PBGG should be advanced discreetly and with an
enhanced multilateral signature. He admitted there were
already examples of PBGG-type activities, with Liberia and
Lebanon both relying on the UN to lead judicial
investigations that were beyond the means of those
governments. Such cases of voluntary cession of sovereignty,
however, were exceptional, he thought.
5. (SBU) Dr. Krasner met on June 24 with Laurent Vigier,
Multilateral Affairs adviser to the French Presidency. Like
Pierre Levy, whom he stated he had not consulted, Vigier
emphasized the need to reinforce the UN. Absent a UN lead,
he predicted there would be grave misperceptions about the
nature of the PBGG as a vehicle for a "hidden agenda" of U.S.
transformational diplomacy. Dr. Krasner said UNDP ownership
of the PBGG was one possibility.
Development Interlocutors Seek Added Partners
---------------------------------------------
6. (SBU) At the French Development Agency (AFD) Dr. Krasner
met with Pierre Jacquet Executive Director (Strategy) and
Chief Economist, and Jean-Marc Chataigner, Director of
Strategic Planning and Partnerships. While agreeing with
much of Krasner,s general diagnosis of the problems of
delivering technical assistance, Jacquet suggested
considering changes in the proposed governance structure for
the partnership. In particular he said including NGOs and
Foundations could be very interesting, and would help defuse
criticism of the proposal on political grounds. He also
suggested linking the partnership to current discussion of
Public/Private Partnerships. Chataigner suggested that some
topics would merit the involvement of regional actors, such
as the Economic Community of West African States, which had
been active in customs collection and the fight against the
illegal diamond trade.
7. (SBU) At the MFA,s Directorate General for International
Cooperation and Development (DGCID) Krasner discussed his
PARIS 00004650 002 OF 002
proposal with Jerome Pasquier, DGCID Deputy Director and
Herve Magro, Deputy Director of DGCID,s Democratic
Governance Office. Magro began by noting that the French
approach to these issues had been shaped by criticism of
"assistance programs" like France,s once-widespread
technical cooperation with former colonies that had fallen
off for financial and political reasons beginning in the
1990,s. As a result, DGCID was now thinking about how
cultural change and social dialogue could be used to create a
sense of broad local ownership and to foster sustainability
of development programs. In particular, they believed they
needed to move beyond the elites that had historically been
the principal beneficiaries of French efforts. Pasquier
added that local legitimacy would be the key to making the
Partnership work: politicians would otherwise be tempted to
avoid responsibility and to blame outside contractors for any
failures the Partnership encountered. Perhaps use of
existing institutions to house the Partnership could help
provide such legitimacy. Along these lines, Magro wondered
how the proposal fit into the Community of Democracies and
the UN Peacebuilding Commission. In addition, he strongly
recommended that beneficiaries -- especially African
countries -- be consulted for their views.
8. (SBU) Embassy Comment: French interlocutors indicated
interest in the PBGG and welcomed how it might improve the
effectiveness of state institutions in developing countries,
in particular in delivering core social services such as
health care and education. Interest however was tempered by
concern that the PBGG should not be a competitor to the UN
system and its actors.
9. (U) S/P delegation cleared this cable.
Please visit Paris' Classified Website at:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm
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