UNCLAS LJUBLJANA 000206

SIPDIS


SENSITIVE

DEPT FOR EUR/NCE
DEPT FOR OES/CASHDOLLAR
AMEMBASSY BUDAPEST FOR POSNER-MULLEN

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EFIS SENV SI
SUBJECT: SLOVENIA: "WE DON'T HAVE WHALES, BUT WE WANT TO
JOIN THE IWC ANYWAY"

REF: SECSTATE 52722


1. (SBU) Econoff and Econ Specialist delivered reftel talking
points 30 March to Emil Ferjancic, Post's chief interlocutor
at the Ministry of the Environment (MOE). Ferjancic stated
Slovenia is considering joining the International Whaling
Commission (IWC) and ratifying the Convention. He said that
Slovenia has been demarched by other EU member states on the
same topic. Ferjancic said the MOE feels it "has to" support
the IWC and was already moving in that direction prior to the
delivery of reftel points. He noted, however, that while the
Minister for the Environment, Janez Podobnik, would support
Slovenia's membership, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) may balk
at the costs.


2. (SBU) Econoff also delivered reftel points 31 March to
Jasna Lhotka, Head of the MFA's Division for International
Organizations. Lhotka, who has been in close contact with
Ferjancic on this matter, told Econoff that Slovenia "should
ratify" the Convention in order to "contribute to the
conservation" of whales. She said the MFA has been pushing
the government to ratify the Convention "for years" and
seemed pleased that some action was finally being taken.
Despite the lack of a direct interest in Slovenia due to the
fact that whales are not regularly present in Slovenian
waters, Lhotka said given Slovenia's active participation in
other conventions to protect endangered species, Slovenia
needed to be a part of the IWC as well. She said Germany,
the UK and New Zealand have all encouraged Slovenia to ratify
the Convention. However, Lhotka echoed Ferjancic's concern
that the MOF may attempt to block the ratification due to the
costs involved.


3. (SBU) Comment: The specter of the budget once again proves
to be a problem for Slovenia. The budget deficit is a
growing concern and one of the major challenges facing the
GOS as it attempts to adhere to the Maastricht criteria.
With adoption of the Euro as the primary economic goal of
Slovenia over the coming two years, it often seems that all
attention at the MOF is focused on deficit reduction.
However, even if the MOF ultimately does give its support,
actual ratification is far from certain. Even with clear and
strong support at the Ministerial level, whether or not the
Parliament will ratify a convention which the casual Slovene
observer might question the logic for remains to be seen.
End Comment.
ROBERTSON


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2005LJUBLJ00206 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED



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