AMBASSADOR'S TOUR D'HORIZON WITH PRESIDENTIAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L ZAGREB 000103

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/25/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV CASC HR
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR'S TOUR D'HORIZON WITH PRESIDENTIAL
ADVISOR

Classified By: Classified by Ambassador Frank for reasons 1.4(b) and (d
)


1. (C) SUMMARY: Ambassador met 23 January with Budimir
Loncar, President Mesic's foreign policy advisor and a
long-time Mesic advisor and confidant. Loncar delivered a
letter from Mesic to President Bush (to be pouched to
EUR/SCE) seeking public support and joint "sponsorship" of
efforts to commemorate 2006 as the "Year of Nikola Tesla" in
honor of Tesla's 150th birthday. On the Ambassador's agenda
were property restitution, Open Skies, Article 98 and public
support in Croatia for NATO membership. Loncar is one of
Mesic's oldest (literally: he will be 82 on April 1)
colleagues, and served as last foreign minister of Yugoslavia
while Mesic was the last President. He was going to lunch
with the President following his meeting with the Ambassador.
END SUMMARY


2. (C) Property restitution: Loncar asked that the USG "hold
off" on our push to bring a team to Zagreb to negotiate an
agreement allowing access for the remaining few U.S. citizens
not already coverd by Bilateral Agreements to existing
property restitution procedures. He indicated that the
Government, Constitutional court and the President were
currently consulting on this issue (made complicated by the
highly politicized claims of Austrians and Italians); Loncar
hoped that a consensus could be reached to allow U.S.
citizens access to the law without a separate bilateral
agreement.


3. (SBU) Open Skies: The Ambassador urged Croatia's entering
into an Open Skies Agreement, noting a number of benefits to
Croatia of such an agreement (also laid out by Amb and Econ
officers to the head of state-owned Croatia Air the week
before).


4. (C) Article 98: The Ambassador reminded Loncar that
President Mesic had several times earlier made a commitment
to re-examine this issue once the remaining Croatian PIFWC
was in the Hague. The Ambassador emphasized that the treaty
of Rome made clear provision for these agreements, and
stressed that they could take many different formats, such as
joint signature of a paper or an exchange of diplomatic
notes. Because Mesic professes a great respect for the UN
(e.g. he opposes troops to Iraq because it is not a "UN
operation"),the Ambassador underscored USG concerns with the
ICC as not subordinate to the UNSC.


5. (C) Croatian public support for NATO: The Ambassador
noted that President Mesic, in his annual New Year's address
to the foreign diplomatic community, had not reiterated last
year's clear statement of support for Croatia's NATO
membership. Diplomats and the press had noted the omission.
At first, Loncar dismissed this concern, referring to "plenty
of time in view of the" supposed 2008 invitation date. The
Ambassador advised him that this timeline was misleading
because decisions on the aspirants' preparations and
readiness for membership were necessarily being made now, in
early 2006. Particularly where polling showed weak public
support, the Allies were scrutinizing this issue. The
Ambassador urged Loncar to suggest that President Mesic speak
out in favor of NATO membership at the earliest opportunity.
FRANK