KOSOVO: EU FINALLY GETTING SERIOUS ABOUT KOSOVO

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PRISTINA 000481 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR DRL, INL, EUR/SCE, AND EUR/SSA, NSC FOR BRAUN, USUN FOR DREW SCHUFLETOWSKI, USOSCE FOR STEVE STEGER E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/06/2016 TAGS: PGOV PREL UNMIK YI SUBJECT: KOSOVO: EU FINALLY GETTING SERIOUS ABOUT KOSOVO Classified By: COM PHILIP S. GOLDBERG FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: The European Union has developed a draft discussion paper for an International Civilian Mission in Kosovo (ICM) that would form the basis for implementation of the final status settlement. The plan calls for a much smaller footprint than UNMIK's current presence, and places heavy reliance on the OSCE's existing field presence. It also calls for guidance and direction from an International Steering Group that would include the United States and Russia. The discussion paper and the EU's own delay in getting people on the ground here in Kosovo do not give us much faith that the ICM will be open for business by the time UNMIK closes up shop. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (SBU) Torbjorn Sohlstrom, head of the EU's office in Pristina, provided COM with a draft discussion paper dated May 22, 2006 for a proposed International Civilian Mission in Kosovo (ICM). Pursuant to the proposal, the mandate of the ICM would be to ensure the implementation of whatever status settlement obtains from the work of UN Special Envoy on Kosovo Martti Ahtisaari. The draft paper requires a UNSC resolution authorizing its work in Kosovo as well as a formal invitation from the Kosovo government to supervise implementation of the status settlement. In its implementation of the settlement, the draft proposal provides that the ICM would work with Kosovo authorities to support implementation, exercise unspecified intervention powers entrusted to it to ensure full implementation and coordinate the roles of other international actors. ¶3. (SBU) The head of the proposed ICM would be an International Community Representative (ICR) who would be double-hatted as the EU Special Representative (EUSR). According to the proposal, the double-hatted ICR/EUSR would better ensure the coherence and unity of command in the implementation of the ICM's mandate. The ICM would have only deputies, one in charge of status implementation and the other responsible for operations of the EU representative office in Pristina. ¶4. (SBU) The proposal sets out a clear break with the extensive UNMIK presence in Kosovo. The ICM would only have six constituent offices: the Office of Status Implementation and Political Affairs; the Office of Legal Affairs; the Office of Economic Affairs; a press office; an Office of Administrative Support; and a separate entity that would manage the EU's rule of law mission and report to the EU's Deputy ICR/EUSR. The plan also eschews UNMIK's sprawling physical plant and provides that the ICR/EUSR, the two deputies as well as all supporting structures and personnel should be co-located. The plan also provides for the ICM to have only one special field office in Mitrovica. (NOTE: The EU's current building would probably not be sufficient for this purpose, even if it evicts some of the offices of smaller EU member states from the premises. According to EU Rule of Law Advisor Tuomas Oja, 15 of the 24-person planning team the EU announced would arrive in Kosovo months ago should be here by next week and will work out of an office in the Germia district of Pristina. Reliance on OSCE field missions is not a new idea; UNMIK is also currently in the process of dismantling its field presence under the terms of an agreement with the OSCE. END NOTE). ¶5. (SBU) The proposal outlines regular bilateral coordination meetings with the head of any future international military presence to ensure cohesion in the area of security. It also envisions an International Steering Group (consisting of France, Germany, Italy, Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, NATO, the EU Council and the European Commission) to provide guidance and direction to the ICR/EUSR. The plan would allow other international organizations (such as the IMF, World Bank, UNDP, UNHCR and the OSCE) to join the International Steering Group as needed. ¶6. (C) COMMENT: While at least a start on EU thinking for post-settlement (and post UNMIK) arrangements, the plan needs to be fleshed out and the EU needs to come up with personnel PRISTINA 00000481 002 OF 002 to staff even the small structure it envisions. The EU presence, like its mission in a post-status Kosovo, will not need to be anywhere near the size of UNMIK. We will have a better idea of how large the ICM needs to be as UNMIK itself gets smaller as we approach the final decision on status and remaining competencies are transferred to the Kosovo government. According to standards coordinator Bryan Hopkinson, the next office at UNMIK to take a large hit will be the Office of Communities, Returns and Minorities -- a area in which the EU plan appears to leave oversight to UNHCR and UNDP after full responsibility for returns is handed over by UNMIK to the Kosovo government in the coming months. The delay by the EU in staffing even its initial staff of 24 does not give us much reason to hope that its proposal is more than a planning exercise at this stage. END COMMENT. ¶7. (U) U.S. Office Pristina clears this message in its entirety for release to U.N. Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari. GOLDBERG