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 NNNN