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### Viewing cable 04MADRID974, AMBASSADOR,S MEETING WITH POSSIBLE NEW SPANISH

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
04MADRID974 | 2004-03-22 19:07 | 2010-12-07 12:12 | CONFIDENTIAL | Embassy Madrid

`

    This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

` `

    C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MADRID 000974

    SIPDIS

    E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/22/2014
    TAGS: PREL PGOV SP
    SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR,S MEETING WITH POSSIBLE NEW SPANISH
    FOREIGN MINISTER MORATINOS

    REF: STATE 2311

    Classified By: Ambassador George Argyros for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D)

    ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Ambassador Argyros had a cordial discussion
    March 22 with Miguel Angel Moratinos, reported to be the
    leading candidate to serve as Foreign Minister under the
    government of Spanish Socialist Worker's Party (PSOE) leader
    Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. Moratinos stressed Zapatero,s
    appreciation for the President,s phone call after the March
    14 Spanish elections. Moratinos was also grateful for
    Secretary Powell,s phone call to him on Friday, March 18.

    SIPDIS
    Moratinos said that Zapatero had asked him to convey to the
    Ambassador that his government will want to maintain the same
    level of excellent bilateral relations that had been
    constructed during the Popular Party (PP) government, and
    would express its differences constructively, as among
    friends. On Iraq, Moratinos reiterated Zapatero,s position
    that absent a UN mandate for troops there, Spanish troops
    would be withdrawn. However, he underscored that the U.S. and
    Spain must remain focused on their shared objective in Iraq:
    promoting stability and democracy. He said we should work to
    find a way to meet these objectives "with or without" Spanish
    troops. He also said that the PSOE government was
    considering increasing Spanish presence in Afghanistan, from
    where PSOE sees the most direct Al-Qaeda threat,
    demonstrating that PSOE would not appease terrorists.

    ¶2. (C) Moratinos said that Zapatero was grateful for the USG
    response to the terrorist attacks and the Spanish elections,
    but was concerned about criticism in the U.S. press and some
    other "sectors" that undermined the legitimacy of the Spanish
    elections by saying that Al-Qaeda had put PSOE in power.
    "This is a redline for us, which we cannot accept," Moratinos
    said, and asked for USG help in dispelling this image.
    Ambassador Argyros drew from talking points in reftel to
    convey USG,s desire to work constructively with the new
    Spanish government on counter-terrorism and a range of other
    issues. END SUMMARY

    ¶3. (C) Moratinos opened the March 22 meeting with Ambassador
    Argyros by expressing his and President-elect Zapatero,s
    deep appreciation for the spirit and tone of the phone calls
    from President Bush to Zapatero and Secretary Powell to
    Moratinos. He said Zapatero has specifically asked him to
    convey to Ambassador Argyros that the Spanish relationship
    with the U.S. would be his government's high priority. PSOE
    wanted to build on the close ties that the Popular Party
    under President Aznar had built with the U.S. It would be
    "stupidity" to end these ties, and PSOE wants to build on
    this strong relationship, Moratinos said. Moratinos noted
    that Spain will want to strengthen its ties with Europe, "our
    family," but that this does not contradict the need for close
    ties with the U.S. PSOE wants rich U.S.-EU ties and strong
    U.S.-Spanish bilateral relations, he added. "We intend to
    work on the basis of no change" in our bilateral relations
    from the PP government. He said that the difference between
    the PSOE and PP approach would be that while PSOE would try
    to be "constructively involved" in Iraq and the Middle East,
    the new government would convey its concerns to the U.S., in
    the spirit of friendship and the desire to find common
    ground.

    ¶4. (C) Moratinos expressed appreciation for his phone call
    with Secretary Powell, which he called "excellent."
    Moratinos said that he had encountered the Secretary on
    various occasions in his capacity as EU envoy, and he would
    "never forget" the warmth of the Secretary's contacts with
    him. In the phone call, Moratinos said he had expressed his
    desire, as soon as he is formally invested as Foreign
    Minister, to visit Washington as his first trip. He
    reiterated this to the Ambassador. Moratinos said the
    objective would be to underscore our strong ties and to have
    a serious discussion about what we can and cannot do on
    certain issues, and to find common ground. He thought the
    government might be formally in place in the third week of
    April and would like to visit right after that.

    ¶5. (C) Ambassador Argyros expressed deep condolences for
    the March 11 terrorist attacks. Moratinos said that the
    President and Secretary Powell had reacted sincerely to the
    attacks and appropriately to the results of the Spanish
    elections three days later. Moratinos said that Zapatero was
    concerned by the reaction by some press and "some sectors" in
    the U.S. (but not the USG itself) that Al-Qaeda handed PSOE
    their electoral victory. This, Moratinos said, undermined
    the legitimacy of the Spanish election results. Spain is a
    serious democracy, he said, with a sense of pride and
    commitment in defending and supporting what Spain has built
    through the years. Moratinos said that PSOE "will not
    accept" criticism that Al-Qaeda put Zapatero in power. He
    said this would be an insult to Zapatero, to Spanish
    democracy and the Spanish people. Moratinos asked for USG
    help ) "Whatever you can do" to help dispel this image.
    This is a "redline" for PSOE, he stressed. PSOE is not going
    to accept the image that the Spanish Republic is a banana
    republic. Ambassador Argyros noted USG statements that the
    elections 3 days after the horrific terrorist attacks was a
    victory for Spanish democracy.

    ¶6. (C) Moratinos and Argyros agreed on the importance of
    avoiding setting US-Spanish relations through rhetoric and
    the need for private dialogue and meetings. Ambassador
    Argyros also suggested the importance of avoiding commentary
    or speculation on the US elections by senior PSOE leadership.
    Moratinos said that PSOE, including Zapatero, understood
    this. He said that there would be no more commentary from
    Zapatero or the PSOE on the US elections.

    ¶7. (C) On Iraq, Moratinos said that "if there is not a
    change in the role of the UN" in Iraq, we will pull out our
    troops. But, he asked the Ambassador to convey to the
    President and the Secretary that Spanish commitment to a
    stable, democratic Iraq remained unwavering, and that this
    would continue "with or without Spanish troops." Moratinos
    said PSOE knows the U.S. would prefer that the troops remain,
    but, he added, it is important to underscore that we share
    the same objective of a democratic, stable Iraq. "Let's talk
    together," he said, about how we can achieve this objective.
    The U.S., he said, has a great role to play in this, and
    should. "We are not going to put our finger in your eye" on
    Iraq, according to Moratinos. Again, he reiterated his
    desire to discuss how we can achieve our objectives in Iraq
    "with or without" Spanish troops.

    ¶8. (C) Ambassador Argyros underscored our commitment to
    maintain strong US-Spanish ties in NATO. Moratinos said that
    "nothing will change at all" on NATO issues, noting that the
    USG and the previous PSOE government had had excellent
    relations. Moratinos said that the new government was
    thinking of increasing Spanish involvement in Afghanistan, to
    help counter Al-Qaeda there. He said PSOE wanted to make
    clear that it would not appease Al-Qaeda, and wanted to
    respond in way that Spain could be most effective. He noted
    that the new government would have a commitment to the
    Spanish people to react to the March 11 attacks. He
    indicated that increasing Spain's role in Afghanistan would
    also show that the PSOE government was not appeasing
    terrorists.

    ¶9. (C) On counter-terrorism, Moratinos said that Spain,
    Europe and the US needed to work together to revisit their
    counter-terrorism strategy (he would not call it a "war"
    because that would give legitimacy to the terrorists, he
    said), since the current strategy has not stemmed the tide of
    terrorism. Spain might call for a dialogue between the US
    and the EU on terrorism, to have a fresh discussion of
    strategy, identify what has worked and what has failed.

    ¶10. (C) Ambassador Argyros also underscored areas in which
    the U.S. and Spain share common interests, such as Latin
    America, where both Spain and the U.S. have huge investments
    and an interest in stability and democracy. Moratinos agreed.

    ¶11. (C) On the Middle East Moratinos mentioned the need to
    maintain the commitment to the Roadmap. He expressed deep
    concern, however, about the effect of the assassination just
    minutes before this meeting, by Israeli forces of the Hamas
    leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. Moratinos had to break briefly
    from the meeting to give a statement to the Spanish press on
    the issue. He said that he considered this leader
    reprehensible, but was deeply concerned about the impact in
    the region of this "extra-judicial" killing (see paragraph 14
    for text of Moratinos' March 22 statement on Hamas killing).

    ¶12. (C) At the close of the discussion, both the Ambassador
    and Moratinos agreed on the importance of building on the
    U.S.-Spanish ties relationship and our shared commitment to
    the war on terrorism. Ambassador Argyros throughout the
    meeting underscored the USG,s desire to work closely with
    the new government on issues of common concern, noting that,
    as among friends, there would be some issues on which we
    would have differences. Both also stressed the need to avoid
    developing our relationship through public rhetoric rather
    than private dialogue.

    ¶13. (U) Moratinos' statement on Hamas killing, in interview
    on Spanish national radio: "It puts the situation in the
    Middle East and relations between Israel and Palestine back
    into a situation of a vicious circle of violence from which
    we are unable to emerge. Therefore I believe we all
    understand and we all share the state of Israel's security
    needs, but that cannot justify going outside the rule of law
    to fight terrorism when there are commitments to respect the
    rule of law, and that is what we have always said: these
    kinds of extrajudicial operations must be avoided and ended,
    because they only create greater cries for vengeance, greater
    unease and frustration among the Palestinian population."
    ARGYROS

`