NAC-PSC DISCUSSION OF BOSNIA AND "OTHER BUSINESS"

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 004253

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DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/FO PDAS BRADTKE, EUR/RPM, EUR/ERA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/03/2014
TAGS: PGOV PREL MOPS EUN NATO USEU BRUSSELS
SUBJECT: NAC-PSC DISCUSSION OF BOSNIA AND "OTHER BUSINESS"

REF: STATE 195305

Classified By: USEU Political Military Officer Jeremy Brenner for reaso
ns 1.5 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: In the September 27 meeting of the NAC with
the EU's Political and Security Committee (NAC-PSC),nations
focused on the constructive NATO-EU cooperation in planning
for the EU operation in Bosnia, and were confident the few
remaining issues would soon be resolved. Ambassador Burns
called for a NATO-EU joint Public Diplomacy concept for
Bosnia. He also welcomed the constructive progress on the EU
Battlegroups issue, while urging concrete next steps. SecGen
de Hoop Scheffer recalled the NATO and EU plan to exchange
permanent liaison staffs. The meeting was brief and narrow
in scope, the agenda being constrained by the Cyprus-Turkey
issue. End Summary.


2. (C) EU Council Secretary General Javier Solana and NATO
Secretary General de Hoop Scheffer briefed on planning for EU

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Operation Althea in Bosnia and the NATO HQ Sarajevo. Notable
points of discussion included:

- Norway, Turkey and Bulgaria, supported by the U.S. and
several others, appealed for quick resolution on their status
in the operation's Committee of Contributors. The EU chair
assured them that the PSC would resolve the issue shortly.
The Dutch NATO PermRep, speaking on behalf of the Presidency,
said in the NAC on September 29 that the PSC meeting
confirmed that all SFOR TNCs would be members of the
Committee of Contributors for EUFOR.

- The UK noted that work was underway to ensure a UN Security
Council Resolution was adopted in October, during the UK's
UNSC Presidency;

- Finland noted its progress toward assuming the Framework
nation role for Task Force North (from the U.S.),including
access to Eagle Base in Tuzla, where an initial Finnish
contingent had already arrived;

- Solana noted that the EU approach on operational and
strategic reserves was reflected in its draft Operational
Plan, and de Hoop Scheffer noted that NATO and EU staffs were
working to finalize NATO-EU understandings on the subject;

- de Hoop Scheffer said another NATO-EU staff mission would
visit Bosnia in early October to meet with Bosnian
authorities (as the two Secretaries General had recently
done);

- de Hoop Scheffer noted that NATO and EU staffs had
discussed the NATO-EU "Specific Agreement" on EU use of NATO
assets and capabilities, which is called for under
Berlin-Plus, and indicated that once the EU formally requests
assets/capabilities, NATO's reply would be in the form of the
initial draft of the Agreement.


3. (C) Ambassador Burns affirmed U.S. expectations and
support for a successful operation in Bosnia with the EU
clearly and visibly in the lead. He stressed the importance
of public diplomacy to ensure that success, and proposed that
NATO and EU staffs present to the next NAC-PSC a joint
NATO-EU public diplomacy concept. The UK, Turkey and Italy
supported this idea, and Solana noted that he and De Hoop
Scheffer were indeed addressing this subject.


4. (C) De Hoop Scheffer also recalled that NATO and the EU
had affirmed in principle the proposal for EU and NATO
liaison presences at, respectively, SHAPE and the EU Military
Staff, and cited Bosnia as evidence of the need to speed up
these permanent arrangements. (Comment: the EU Summit in
June approved proposed terms of reference for these liaisons,
subject within the EU to agreement on a package of papers
including the EU internal "civ-mil cell" and "operations
center.")


5. (C) Under any other business, Ambassador Burns welcomed
the constructive, single-issue discussion of coherence and
complementarity between the EU Battlegroups and NATO Response
Force in the September 20 NATO-EU Capabilities Group,
including the UK's non-paper for that meeting. He affirmed
U.S. support for respective capabilities initiatives so long
as they upheld interoperability, non-duplication and the
other principles provided for in Berlin-Plus. Accordingly,
he called for a subgroup of the Capabilities Group to
continue addressing the subject, and urged (supported by
Turkey) that a NATO and an EU representative each brief the
next NAC-PSC on the issue.

Schnabel