Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06BELGRADE1973
2006-12-06 13:56:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Belgrade
Cable title:  

More Reaction from Democrats and NGOs on PfP

Tags:  MARR PREL NATO SR 
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BELGRADE 001973 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE PLEASE PASS TOSEC
STATE PASS ALSO TO U/S BURNS AND A/S FRIED

E.O. 12958:N/A
TAGS: MARR PREL NATO SR
SUBJECT: More Reaction from Democrats and NGOs on PfP

REF: A)Belgrade 1956; B)Belgrade 1943

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SUMMARY
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BELGRADE 001973

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE PLEASE PASS TOSEC
STATE PASS ALSO TO U/S BURNS AND A/S FRIED

E.O. 12958:N/A
TAGS: MARR PREL NATO SR
SUBJECT: More Reaction from Democrats and NGOs on PfP

REF: A)Belgrade 1956; B)Belgrade 1943

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SUMMARY
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1. (SBU) NATO's invitation for Serbia's membership in PfP
continues to dominate local media. President Tadic gave
credit to his advisors for the invitation, a statement to
which FONMIN took offense. The EU, meanwhile, has said
publicly that NATO's relaxation on conditionality will not
change its firm position that Serbia increase its
cooperation with the ICTY before reopening the SAA talks.
Human rights organizations are split over the NATO
invitation, with some of the more crusading organizations
supporting ICTY Prosecutor del Ponte's criticism of the
decision. The small, pro-Western LDP has come out in favor
of membership, but also warns of the responsibility that
comes with PfP. The ball is now in Serbia's court, and we
will continue to urge them to move quickly during this
campaign season to initiate the PfP membership process.
End Summary.


LDP Welcomes PfP Invitation
--------------


3. (SBU) The small, pro-Western LDP released a statement on
November 30 welcoming Serbia's membership in PfP, calling
it great news for the country. However, the LDP
acknowledged the great responsibility now bestowed on
Serbia and the standards it must now achieve, including
fulfilling obligations to ICTY, dealing with the Kosovo
status issue, and aligning with European standards with
regard to the judiciary and security forces. The LDP said
of this new opportunity, "We must not gamble that away."

NGO's Support PfP
--------------


4. (SBU) After some initial rumblings of dismay, the NGO
community largely welcomed NATO's invitation to Serbia to
join PfP. Six major humanitarian NG's in Serbia, the
Center for Cultural Decontamintion, Belgrade Circle, the
Committee of Lawyers for Human Rghts, the Youth
Initiative, the Civic nitiative, and the Helsinki
Committee for Human ights in Serbia, released a joint
statemet in support of the decision. Two other groups --
Women in Black and the Humanitarian Law Center -- while
sympathetic to the statement, opted to support ICTY Chief
Prosecutor Carla del Ponte's public criticism of NATO for

relaxing its conditionality policy. The six NGOs assessed
that Serbia's inclusion into PfP is of crucial importance
for the region's lasting stability and will help in the
reform of the army and placing it under civilian control.
These six NGOs also stated that they hope PfP will restore
trust among nations in the Balkans and combating extreme
nationalism still plaguing Serbia. The six NGOs asserted
that collective regional security calls for resolving all
open issues, including Kosovo and ICTY.

Tadic and Draskovic Tangle Over Credit for PfP
-------------- -


5. (SBU) President Tadic continued his public comments in
support of what the media has characterized as a last
minute reversal in favor of engagement, praising his young
advisors, Vuk Jeremic and Jovan Ratkovic, for bringing PfP
to Serbia. The media is reporting widely A/S Fried's
statements that Tadic's letter to President Bush--asking
for Serbia's inclusion into PfP--was an important factor in
favor of PfP membership for Serbia. FONMIN Draskovic and
the Foreign Ministry issued a statement criticizing Tadic
for giving credit to his two advisors and accusing the
Presidency of thereby belittling the state and the
institutions of Serbia and NATO-member countries.
Draskovic, who has been spearheading the effort to get
Serbia into PfP for the last couple of years, complained to
the Ambassador that he thought the DS and Tadic were taking
all the credit for PfP. All bickering aside, most
democratic forces have welcomed PfP as a rallying cry for
moving Serbia forward into Euro-Atlantic institutions as
well as in their campaign strategies. There is still no

BELGRADE 00001973 002 OF 002


substantive response from the Radical (SRS) or Socialist
(SPS) parties. The PM's DSS is still clinging to its tepid
welcoming of PfP and its interpretation that it advances
Serbia's claim on Kosovo and that it proves the error of
conditionality as a policy.

EU Remains Committed to Conditionality
--------------


6. (SBU) The EU remains firm in its position to force
Serbia to comply fully with ICTY, according to press
statements and initial Embassy contacts with Belgrade-based
EU officials. Belgrade media covered statements by German
Chancellor Merkel and EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn
that the EU will not abandon its condition of full
cooperation with the Hague Tribunal before resuming talks
on SAA with Serbia. Commending Serbia for the progress made
so far in moving closer to the west, Rehn promised that the
EU is prepared to resume talks the moment Serbia fully
cooperates with the Hague, i.e. arrests and extradites
indicted war criminal Ratko Mladic to the Hague. Our EU
contacts affirmed this, saying that member states remained
concerned about Serbia's lack of commitment to the Hague
and will continue to make clear that full cooperation is
necessary for negotiations to resume.

Comment
--------------


7. (SBU) After the fanfare of the PFP announcement, NATO
and the Serbian government are wasting no time moving from
an invitation to membership for Serbia. Serbian Ambassador
to NATO Milinkovic announced that Serbia may sign the
framework partnership agreement by the end of the year.
Following the agreement, a presentation document will be
delivered that will offer a program of cooperation between
Serbia and NATO before an individual program of partnership
between Serbia and NATO is developed. Milinkovic expects
Serbia to complete this process by mid-2007. The Ministry
of Defense has also issued invitations for the opening of a
NATO Military Liaison Office on December 18.


8. (SBU) There is little popular understanding in Serbia
about the details of PfP membership, which is popularly
considered as something positive but "not NATO." For now,
at least some of the democratic forces, despite bickering
over who is responsible for the invitation will probably
use PfP as a campaign message to the voters for the
elections. Hopefully, they can present NATO's invitation
as a way of reinforcing the distinction between the hateful
backward looking message of the Radicals, and the largely
pro-Euro-Atlantic themes that democratic parties are
pushing in their parliamentary campaigns.


9. (SBU) We will continue to push the government to move
forward quickly on membership and to use accession as a way
to trumpet its commitment to Euro-Atlantic integration.
The Serbian Ambassador to NATO expressed hope that Serbia
could sign the Framework Document by the end of the year
and submit a PD by mid-2007. We will need to see whether
the GoS is indeed willing to move that quickly during this
campaign season. In the meantime, the Ministry of Defense
has also issued invitations for the opening of a NATO
Military Liaison Office on December 18.

POLT