SLOVENIA: DEMARCHE DELIVERED ON MARKING AND

C O N F I D E N T I A L LJUBLJANA 000036 SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/NCE AND PM/WRA (STEPHANIE PICO) E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/19/2015 TAGS: PARM SI SUBJECT: SLOVENIA: DEMARCHE DELIVERED ON MARKING AND TRACING OF SA/LW REF: SECSTATE 9788 Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Dean J. Haas for reasons 1.4(b) and (d). ¶1. (C) On 20 January, Pol-Miloff delivered reftel talking points and position paper to MFA Security Policy Department staffer Bostjan Jerman, who handles SA/LW issues. Jerman mentioned that Ambassador Thalmann's draft text was discussed among EU member states in Brussels on 17 January. He said a majority of EU member states, including Slovenia, were in favor of negotiating the SA/LW marking and tracing instrument as a legally binding document. He said Slovenia is also in favor of including ammunition in the instrument; however, Jerman noted that different views exist within the GoS on the question of whether every bullet should be marked. While the Slovenian police support marking individual bullets for criminal investigation reasons, he said the MoD recognizes the prohibitive cost of such a measure. ¶2. (C) Jerman admitted that there is widespread recognition within the EU that consensus will not be reached to make the instrument legally binding, acknowledging that many countries in addition to the U.S. would not give in on that point. Nonetheless, he said if the EU or Slovenia were to give in on its position with respect to the legally binding nature of the instrument too early, they would have little to bargain with later on. Jerman predicted that the legally binding discussion would be resolved at the June Open Ended Working Group (OEWG) meeting, adding that "maybe the EU line would evolve by then." He then wryly noted that the EU has a history of supporting politically binding instruments, citing the EU Code of Conduct in the context of the China Arms Embargo. ROBERTSON NNNN