Wikileaks - MCCCLXIV

209551 6/1/2009 15:24 09PRAGUE300 Embassy Prague CONFIDENTIAL 09SECSTATE54469 VZCZCXRO7554 RR RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHNP RUEHROV RUEHSR DE RUEHPG #0300 1521524 ZNY CCCCC ZZH R 011524Z JUN 09 FM AMEMBASSY PRAGUE TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1419 INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 0132 RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 0535 RUEHBM/AMEMBASSY BUCHAREST 7268 RUEHUP/AMEMBASSY BUDAPEST 0616 RUEHSF/AMEMBASSY SOFIA 0504 RUEHVI/AMEMBASSY VIENNA 1740 RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS C O N F I D E N T I A L PRAGUE 000300

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/31/2019 TAGS: EPET, ENRG, ECON, PREL, EUN, EZ SUBJECT: CZECH RESPONSE: U.S. POSITION ON IRAN AS A SOURCE OF GAS IN NABUCCO ISA

REF: SECSTATE 54469

Classified By: Political and Economic Counselor Charles O. Blaha. Reasons 1.4 b and d.

1. (C) We delivered reftel demarche May 28 to MFA Energy Envoy Vaclav Bartuska and MFA North and East Europe Director Daniel Kostoval. Kostoval reported that since the Nabucco pipeline would not flow through the Czech Republic, the Czechs were not directly involved in negotiating the Nabucco Inter-State Agreement. Ambassador Bartuska said he had discussed this issue with U.S. officials during his recent visit to Washington. He stressed that if there is to be a "real problem" between the U.S. and EU concerning energy, it most likely will be about Iran. Bartuska added that "Europe cannot ignore the second largest gas reserves in the world, especially when the owner of the largest gas reserve (i.e. Russia) is trying to blackmail her." Bartuska said he realized that this position was unpopular in Washington, but insisted that this was "reality."

2. (SBU) We also delivered reftel demarche June 1 to Ministry of European Affairs staffers Jan Kral and Jiri Horak. While noting that the Czechs were not directly involved in the negotiations, they promised to discuss our views internally. Thompson-Jones