Cablegate: Luxembourg's Pm On the Nato Summit

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RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHLE #0641 3481308
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 141308Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY LUXEMBOURG
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5697
INFO RUEHXP/ALL NATO POST COLLECTIVE
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC

C O N F I D E N T I A L LUXEMBOURG 000641

SIPDIS

NOFORN
SIPDIS

NCS FOR JUDY ANSLEY,
DEFENSE FOR DAS FATA AND MAJ BOGLE,
BRUSSELS FOR DATT GAGNON AND ODC HURD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/13/2016
TAGS: PREL NATO PM LU
SUBJECT: LUXEMBOURG'S PM ON THE NATO SUMMIT

Classified By: DCM STEVEN H. KRAFT, FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D)

1. (C) During an 11 December meeting the Ambassador and
Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean Claude Juncker discussed the
NATO Summit, the NATO Response Force (NRF), and the
International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF) in
Afghanistan. The Ambassador expressed her appreciation to
the PM for Luxembourg's support for NATO and ISAF. Juncker
said he appreciated the Ambassador,s comments especially
since earlier in the year he felt that he was "all alone" as
the one European leader strongly supporting NATO. Juncker
also said that this is why he felt it was important for him
to be so vocal about his support for NATO, including writing
a pro-NATO editorial entitled "Why is NATO Good for All of
Us?" The editorial was published on 7 December in the German
weekly "Rheinische Merkur."

2. (C) Juncker was clearly pleased with the Summit itself.
He said that holding the Summit in the former Soviet Republic
of Latvia had been "very moving." He was also delighted to
have had the opportunity to speak with President Bush,
commenting that the President "is a man who speaks from
conviction" and who "doesn't only do things when they are
popular." Juncker expressed some concern that the USG was
pushing "too aggressively" on both Georgia and Ukraine's
relationship with NATO at the risk of provoking Russia.
Turning to NRF and ISAF Juncker reiterated Luxembourg's
support for the NRF and underlined how important he thought
it was for "even tiny Luxembourg" to participate in both NRF
and ISAF with troops, not just financial support. (NOTE:
Luxembourg has 9 soldiers participating in ISAF and 2
soldiers participating in NRF-7. The GOL has also committed
itself to the goal of being able to expand its NRF
contribution up to 20 soldiers by the 2009/2010 timeframe -
NRF-15/16. END NOTE.)

3. (C/NF) COMMENT: Perhaps it is a function of the afterglow
of Riga or the mire which has become the debate over the
European Constitutional treaty but Juncker's overall tone
regarding NATO was markedly different then that of a year
ago. In earlier meetings with the Ambassador there were more
references to EU-centric security matters like the Common
Foreign and Security Policy/European Security and Defense
Policy and the Battle group concept. He raised none of these
issues in the 11 December meeting.
WAGNER

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