SLOVAK RESPONSE ON EU CUBA POLICY AND JUNE 13

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRATISLAVA 000442

SIPDIS


FOR EUR/ERA AND WHA/CCA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/07/2015
TAGS: PREL CU PARM LO EUN
SUBJECT: SLOVAK RESPONSE ON EU CUBA POLICY AND JUNE 13
GAERC DEMARCHES

REF: A. STATE 102505


B. STATE 105235

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Scott N. Thayer for Reason 1.4 (b) and
(d).


1. (C) Pol-Econ Chief shared ref A points on Cuba with MFA on
June 6, and discussed the points with Lubomir Rehak, European
Correspondent, along with pre-GAERC points in ref B on June

7. Rehak thanked us for providing our point-of-view before
each GAERC, saying the discussions with emboffs are
interesting and useful, and that he wished other countries
(particularly Russia) would do the same. Rehak had Russia on
his mind, having just returned from a two-week stint at
Moscow's diplomatic academy.

EU Cuba Policy
--------------


2. (C) The evening of June 6, MFA spokesman Juraj Tomoga told
Charge that the Slovak representative had been instructed to
be in "listening mode" at the June 7 COLAT discussion of Cuba
policy, particularly listening to the Spanish position.
Rehak said that was an inaccurate portrayal, although he
confirmed that Slovakia would not join the Czechs and Poles
in an aggressive campaign to re-impose the restrictive
measures. He said Slovakia's main concern was how to engage
those government officials who would still be in office after
Castro is gone, and who will be the instruments of reform in
the future. Pol-Eeon chief pointed out that the EU policy
was not having the intended effect, and Rehak admitted that
the strategy "needed improvements." One problem the EU
countries face was similar to a challenge of strengthening
civil society in Belarus: the dissidents are not united, and
often are in competition with each other. There is no clear
or easy way to provide support. He thanked the U.S. for the
concrete suggestions included in the demarche, and said
Slovakia would be considering its position on Cuba throughout
the week.


3. (C) Also on June 6, emboffs met with Chair of the Human
Rights Committee in parliament, Laszlo Nagy. He described
the visit of parliament chairman Pavol Hrusovsky to
Washington and Miami (Nagy also accompanied) as re-inforcing
Hrusovsky's determination to help Cuban political dissidents.
Hrusovsky recently announced his plan for an international
group of MPs to provide support to dissidents and put
pressure on the Cuban regime. Nagy and Hrusovsky will be
meeting with FM Kukan this week to urge a stronger position
on Cuba.

Balkans/KOSOVO
--------------


4. (C) Rehak will travel to London with MFA Political
Director Miroslav Lajcak to discuss KOSOVO next Friday. He
thanked Pol-Ec chief for the recent testimony by U/S Burns.
He in turn recommended the report by the International
Commission on the Balkans (balkan-commission.org). Rehak
also mentioned that since ICTY represnetative Carla del Ponte
will present her report on Croatia to the European Council
June 13 (although the Council would be more concerned with
internal problems after the "no" votes in France and the
Netherlands),some of the EU foreign ministers planned to
strategize on Croatia on the margins of GAERC.

Iran, Lebaon, Iraq, US-EU Summit
--------------


5. (C) Rehak said Slovakia was on the same page as the U.S.
in all these issues, and had no other substantive comment.
On the US-EU Conference on Iraq, Rehak mentioned that Russian
FM Lavrov had complained about being shut out of the
mechanism for preparing the conference, when the idea of the
conference was originally Russian.

China Arms Embargo
--------------


6. (C) Rehak speculated that after the French "NO" on the EU
constitution, other countries would find it easier to resist
French pressure on this and other issues. He said the Slovak
position on lifting the embargo is "fuzzy" at the moment.
The bottom line is that Slovakia is not willing to ruin the
Transatlantic relationship over this issue.


7. (C) Rehak said that one interesting thing he noticed at
the Moscow diplomatic academy was that the Russians compared
their foreign policy positions with the U.S. and with China,
but never mentioned the EU positions. He got the impression
that Russia didn't consider the EU a player, which in Rehak's


view was foolish since the EU is the major source of foreign
aid in the world.
THAYER


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