VATICAN OPPOSES COVIC DISMISSAL OR RESIGNATION

C O N F I D E N T I A L VATICAN 000460



SIPDIS





DEPT FOR EUR/WE LEVIN; EUR/SCE GREGORIAN AND FOOKS



E.O. 12958: DECL: 3/29/2015

TAGS: HR, BK, VT, PREL

SUBJECT: VATICAN OPPOSES COVIC DISMISSAL OR RESIGNATION



REF: HARDT-KAIDENOW 3/29/05 TELCON



CLASSIFIED BY: D. Brent Hardt, Charge d'Affaires a. i.,

Executive Office, Department of State.

REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)



1. (C) Summary: Holy See Foreign Minister Lajolo called in

Charge March 29 to convey the Holy See's concerns about UN High

Representative Ashdown's recent indication that he intends to

relieve Covic of his duties as President if Covic does not

resign pending his trial on corruption charges. Lajolo

maintained that such a move, in the face of Covic's strong

support among the Croat population of Bosnia-Herzegovia, would

further alienate and anger the Bosnian-Croat population. Lajolo

said the Catholic bishops in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia

believe Ashdown's action is based at least in part on an

"anti-Catholic attitude." End Summary.



2. (C) Holy See Foreign Minister equivalent Archbishop Giovanni

Lajolo called in Charge March 29 to register the Holy See's and

ethnic Croatian bishops' concerns about UN High Representative

Paddy Ashdown's pressure on Bosnia-Herzegovian President Dragan

Covic to resign and Ashdown's threat to relieve him of his

duties (which he did later that day). Lajolo was also calling

in other ambassadors, including the Dutch (acting EU presidency

embassy) and British to convey the same message. The full text

of the Vatican's aide-memoire is in para. 7 below.



3. (C) After briefly reviewing the situation in Bosnia, Lajolo

said it seemed premature for Ashdown to move against Covic,

given that he has not yet been convicted and should be given the

presumption of innocence until proven guilty. Lajolo noted that

Covic had been elected with the support of nearly two-thirds of

the Bosnian Croats, and he maintained that Covic's removal would

be seen by the Bosnian Croats as further evidence of

discrimination against them. Lajolo said the bishops worried

about how the Bosnian Croats would react to this move. He also

said the bishops themselves would regard Covic's removal as "a

new attack on the Croatian minority, already numerically

diminished," and said they would see such an action as being

based on what they believed was Ashdown's "anti-Catholic

attitude." Lajolo said he understood that the United States had

been supporting Ashdown's actions on this issue, which was why

he wanted to raise it with us.



4. (C) Charge responded that he would convey the Holy See's

concerns to Washington and to our mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina

(ref). He pointed out that the members of the Peace

Implementation Council (PIC),which included the United States,

recognized that Dr. Covic was entitled to the presumption of

innocence, but believed that Dr. Covic's resignation would

protect the good name and integrity of the office of the

presidency and allow him to defend himself free from official

obligations. Regarding the bishops' charge of anti-Catholicism,

Charge asked Lajolo if he had any specific examples from the

bishops to back up this serious charge. Lajolo said he had

none, adding that he was merely relaying the bishops'

"perception."



5. (C) The Holy See's concern, Lajolo restated, was a broad

sense among Croatian bishops that the Bosnian Croats were

consistently under pressure from Muslims and Serbs, who would

prefer that they leave the country. He noted that in Mostar,

where Croats were a majority, they were nevertheless treated

like a minority. Replacing a popular president by fiat, Lajolo

reiterated, would be widely interpreted as a sign of

discrimination from the international community against a people

already facing significant challenges.



6. (C) Comment: Nationalistic Croatian bishops have good access

to the Holy See, and it is likely that they have been pressing

the Vatican to intervene to prevent Covic's removal. It is

reflective of the Holy See's traditionally solicitous approach

to dealing with the Catholic Church in Croatia and

Bosnia-Herzegovina that the Secretariat of State would take up

the cause for the bishops in this high-profile way. It is

unusual that Lajolo would raise in a formal demarche and in

written form the charge of an anti-Catholic bias on the part of

Paddy Ashdown -- even though it was attributed to the Croatian

bishops. The British ambassador termed the charge a "disgrace,"

and said the UK was likely to push back strongly.



7. (C) Text of Aide-Memoire on Covic:



Mr. Dragan Covic, one of the three Presidents of

Bosnia-Herzegovina, a Croatian, has been accused of corruption

and private interest; his case is currently under judicial

investigation.



The High Representative of the United Nations in Sarajevo, Mr.

Ashdown, assumes that he has the authority to depose, even

before the decision of the court, the aforementioned President,



who was elected by a two-thirds majority of the Croatian people.



The Bishops of Bosnia-Herzegovina believe this behavior to be a

new attack on the Croatian minority, already numerically

diminished, and also maintain that it is based on Mr. Ashdown's

anti-Catholic attitude.



End text.



HARDT





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