ACTION REQUEST: MASSAGING SERBIA'S PFP

C O N F I D E N T I A L BELGRADE 001994

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/12/2016
TAGS: MARR PREL NATO SR
SUBJECT: ACTION REQUEST: MASSAGING SERBIA'S PFP
PRESENTATION DOCUMENT

REF: STATE-USNATO EMAILS OF 12/11/06 AND PREVIOUS

Classified By: Ambassador Michael C. Polt, reasons 1.4 (b,d)

This is an action request; see para 5.


1. (sbu) Serbia has been working with NATO International
Staff since March, 2006 on a Presentation Document in
anticipation of an eventual invitation to join PfP. As a
result, by the time of the Riga Summit, the Serbian MoD and
MFA were already nearly finished with a fairly comprehensive,
forward-leaning Presentation Document that, inter alia,
espoused a desire for eventual full membership in the
alliance and made positive reference to the Serbian Army's
ongoing cooperative efforts with KFOR.


2. (c) What the PD draft notably does not include is
language reiterating Serbia's publicly stated commitment to
fully cooperate with the ICTY. In addition, there is no
reference to Kosovo other than that noted above (as of the
latest draft, which we obtained on 12/11 and forwarded to
USNATO and the Department). The official statement of PM
Kostunica and his government acknowledging the invitation
referenced PfP simply as an indicator of the "failure of the
policy of conditionality" and a further guarantee by the
international community of Serbia's territorial integrity,
including Kosovo.


3. (c) We believe a central benefit of the PfP invitation
and its timing was to support President Boris Tadic in the
run-up to parliamentary elections in Serbia January 21, 2007,
and at the same time to provide Tadic with an opportunity to
publicly embrace his reformist intentions and desire for
closer relations with NATO and the EU. President Tadic's
November 20 letter to the President, which we have publicly
cited as a key to gaining Serbia its PfP invitation, made two
specific and important pledges - first, that Serbia would
continue to be a force for stability in the Balkans following
a status decision on Kosovo, and second, that Serbia will
continue to do everything in its power to locate, arrest, and
extradite Ratko Mladic and other remaining Hague indictees to
the ICTY. The PD offers an opportunity for us to hold Serbia
to the commitments Tadic made to the President on the key
issues of ICTY and Kosovo.


4. (c) This key language should be a part of Serbia's
presentation document as a reinforcement of the commitments
of Serbia's reformist democratic leaders. In cooperation
with other allies, we are prepared to engage energetically
with Serbia's leadership to encourage such language to be a
central component of the presentation document.


5. (c) Action request: We recommend that the USG engage
with Allies, either in Brussels or Belgrade, to ensure that
the text of Serbia's presentation document reiterates Tadic's
commitments to the President.
POLT