CROATIA SUPPORTS STABILITY PACT TRANSITION

C O N F I D E N T I A L ZAGREB 000690

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SCE
BRUSSELS FOR MIKE MOZUR

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/05/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV HR BK SR
SUBJECT: CROATIA SUPPORTS STABILITY PACT TRANSITION


Classified By: DCM Greg Delawie for reasons 1.4 b and d.


1. (C) Summary and Comment: Croatian MFA State Secretary
Hidajet Biscevic told Ambassador June 1 that Croatia supports
the transformation of the Stability Pact into a
regionally-owned organization and believes the U.S. will need
to play an active role in the process. The GOC anticipates
that a year of talks will be needed to agree on the structure
of a new Regional Cooperation Council (RCC). Although
confident of the region's European perspective, Biscevic said
that reaching agreement on the particularly thorny issue of
where such a body would be located and who would lead it will
pose a significant challenge and that the RCC might best be
established in Brussels initially. Biscevic touched briefly
on the Montenegrin referendum, saying that Croatia supports
the result and that it is encouraging the government of
Serbia to continue its Euro-Atlantic orientation. On Bosnia,
he said that the GOC supports the international community's
condemnation of talk of a referendum in the Republika Srpska
and that Croatia supports the territorial integrity of Bosnia
Herzegovina.


2. (C) Comment: Croatia very much wants to take a leadership
role in the Stability Pact transition, but is yet to give
form to its ambitions. The GOC has organized a conference in
Dubrovnik July 9-10 that will have high-level regional
attendance. Dubrovnik is a good opportunity for a strong
U.S. intervention encouraging the region's leaders to act
quickly and ambitiously to move this process forward and show
NATO and EU members that they are ready to become net
contributors to regional stability. End Summary and Comment.

Stability Pact Transition
--------------

3. (C) Croatian MFA State Secretary Hidajet Biscevic used
the opportunity of a June 1 meeting with the Ambassador to
brief on the May 30 Stability Pact meeting in Belgrade.
Biscevic said that Croatia accepts the proposal from the EU
and Stability Pact for a transformation of the Stability Pact
into a regionally-owned institution by 2008. Hoping that the
region will have what he termed a "clearer architecture of
stability" by that time, he said that Croatia believes South
East Europe can develop into a normal part of Europe and a
net contributor to stability. The GOC foresees a year of
dialogue to agree on modalities for the creation of a
Regional Cooperation Council (RCC),which would be an
instrument of the South East Europe Cooperation Process
(SEECP). Characterizing the SEECP as the voice of the
region, Biscevic said that the goal through the RCC was for
SEE to become a Euro-Atlantic actor.


4. (C) Croatia, which currently holds the rotating chair of
the SEECP and is making a concerted effort to burnish its
Euro-Atlantic credentials, has a strong interest in seeing
these efforts to a successful conclusion. In this vein,
Biscevic noted that discussions would have to clear a number
of significant hurdles. First among these will be reaching
agreement on a suitable figure from the region to serve as
the secretary general of the RCC and also agreeing on a
location for the secretariat, which Belgrade, Sarajevo and
Podgorica all offered to play host to. Biscevic conceded
that reaching agreement on these issues might still be beyond
the region's grasp and could distract from the larger
objective of getting the RCC up and running. To this end, he
thought that Brussels might be a better choice initially.
The GOC is anxious to bring this process to a successful
conclusion during its tenure as SEECP chair, which Biscevic
suggested may need to be extended beyond its current term to
the end of 2007.


5. (C) Biscevic said that Croatia favors aligning both the
structures and calendar of the RCC with those of the EU, both
as a practical matter, but also as a symbolic message to
Europe. At the same time, however, he expressed the concern
that other countries in the region could view the RCC only as
forum from which to lobby for EU membership, something he
feels could backfire. Taking account of the challenges
ahead, Biscevic said that U.S. engagement will be the key to
making this transition a success and vowed to consult on the
process.

Serbia, Montenegro
--------------

6. (C) Biscevic expressed satisfaction with the outcome of
the Montenegrin referendum and said that the GOC had
encouraged Belgrade to engage in constructive dialogue with
Podgorica to move the process along smoothly. He said that
Croatia was encouraging the Serb leadership not to lose its
focus at this critical time and to keep the country on its
current Euro-Atlantic tack. He thought that this would be
particularly important in light of Kosovo status negotiations
and said that he had urged his Serb counterparts to remain
engaged in the region and not to give in to a defeatist
mindset.

Bosnia
--------------

7. (C) Reacting to recent talk of a secessionist referendum
in the Republika Srpska, Biscevic said that the GOC rejects
any linkage with regional issues and supports the territorial
integrity of BiH. He said that he thought the RS leadership
was simply testing the waters in anticipation of a resolution
of Kosovo and a view to elections.
FRANK