CZECHS SUPPORT NATO INTENSIFIED DIALOGUE WITH

C O N F I D E N T I A L PRAGUE 000343 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/NCE, PM/RSAT FOR DOWLEY E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/16/2016 TAGS: NATO MARR PREL GG EZ SUBJECT: CZECHS SUPPORT NATO INTENSIFIED DIALOGUE WITH GEORGIA REF: STATE 51994 Classified By: Acting DCM Michael Dodman for reasons 1.4 (b) & (d) ¶1. (C) Poloff April 04 discussed reftel demarche concerning NATO "Intensified Dialogue on Membership Questions" with Vaclav Balek, Deputy Director of the MFA's Security Policy Department. Balek said the Czech Republic welcomed the idea of Intensified Dialogue for Georgia with a single caveat -- that the process should not proceed as if membership for Georgia will be guaranteed. ¶2. (C) Comment: Pragmatism rules in Prague on this issue and many others. Based on previous discussions we predict that the GOCR will neither block nor encourage NATO membership for Georgia or Ukraine in the future. The Czechs have not adopted a formal position on NATO membership issues for either country, but their preferences are clear. The Czechs view the most fundamental base of NATO to be Article 5, and believe any discussion of admitting Georgia or Ukraine would have to include a frank examination of the Article 5 implications for new members (Would NATO be able to defend the new member, and would it be willing to do so?). The GOCR knows that it could not successfully oppose membership for Georgia or Ukraine. However the Czechs will not be in the front row of NATO members pushing for either country to join NATO. The psychology of the Cold War is still a factor here. Many Czechs believe the primary benefit of joining NATO was the guarantee of allied support should Russia again become belligerent. Local experience during the last century has kept this concern in the forefront of Czech thinking, to a degree that is not common further west. The Czechs feel that several of the new NATO members also see NATO as their Article 5 guardian, and would therefore have similar concerns. End Comment. CABANISS