Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05VATICAN460
2005-03-29 16:34:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Vatican
Cable title:  

VATICAN OPPOSES COVIC DISMISSAL OR RESIGNATION

Tags:  BK HR PREL VT 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
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)

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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