DEMARCHE TO AUSTRIA ON SERBIA'S ICTY COOPERATION

C O N F I D E N T I A L VIENNA 002688 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/AGS - SAINT-ANDRE E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/08/2016 TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR ICTY SR YI AU SUBJECT: DEMARCHE TO AUSTRIA ON SERBIA'S ICTY COOPERATION REF: STATE 146343 Classified By: Economic-Political Counselor Gregory E. Phillips. Reaso ns: 1.4 (b),(c) and (d). ¶1. (SBU) EconPolCouns delivered reftel demarche on September 8 to Thomas Schnoell, Austrian MFA DAS for Balkan Affairs. ¶2. (C) Schnoell reported that he had just been in Brussels, where he had met with the ICTY's political advisor. It was clear that the Serbian action plan needed implementation, and Serbian PM Kostunica had to speak explicitly of the need to arrest Mladic -- using the word "arrest." Schnoell said Carla del Ponte had spoken of the need to achieve greater Serbian cooperation with ICTY before resuming negotiations on an SAA with the EU. However, according to the ICTY political advisor, the transfer of Mladic was not necessarily a sine qua non. Instead, as was the case with Croatia and the Gotovina case, if Serbia worked closely with ICTY to find Mladic, del Ponte could issue a finding that Serbia was offering "full cooperation." McCaw