SERBIA TO SEND DELEGATION TO BRUSSELS EMPTY-HANDED

UNCLAS BELGRADE 001380 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958:N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL PBTS KV SR SUBJECT: SERBIA TO SEND DELEGATION TO BRUSSELS EMPTY-HANDED SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (SBU) Serbia will bring no new ideas or proposals to the next round of Kosovo talks, Slobodan Samardzic, Serbia's Kosovo Minister and lead negotiator, told Ambassador. Resident European diplomats and a Government advisor echoed this message in conversations with the DCM and, further, conveyed their clear expectation that the Troika, rather than either Serbia or Kosovo, would introduce a new proposal for consideration in Brussels. The Embassy, at all levels, continues to encourage Serbian authorities to make the best use of the negotiations in the little time before the process runs its course. End Summary. Serbia: Said It All Before -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Serbia's Kosovo Minister Slobodan Samardzic made clear, in an October 10 meeting with Ambassador, that Serbia will bring no new ideas to the next round of Troika-facilitated discussions on Kosovo. The Ambassador encouraged Samardzic to use the negotiation process constructively and to share Serbia's best ideas now. Samardzic, who will lead Serbia's delegation, said that his team had already laid out its proposal three times, in London, Vienna, and New York, without any movement on the side of the Kosovar Albanians. "The devil is in the details," Samardzic said, but noted that he would not elaborate the details of Serbia's plan without a signal of reciprocity on Kosovo's part. Samardzic walked back the notion that the "common sovereign roof" for Serbia and Kosovo that Tadic introduced in New York represented either innovation or compromise. The roof is over one country, Samardzic clarified, suggesting that Tadic had employed the metaphor to distinguish Serbia's vision from the federation of independent states that the Kosovo proposal offered. Samardzic expressed his commitment to the negotiation process but noted that he saw greater reasons for pessimism than optimism, remarking that the rift between the two sides was narrow but deep. He had no suggestions for bridging it. Troika's Turn -------------- ¶3. (SBU) In a separate meeting, Political Adviser to the Prime Minister Aleksandar Simic told the DCM that Serbia clearly expects the Troika to put a proposal on the table in Brussels. (The DCM heard the same story with equal certainty from French and Italian counterparts in Belgrade.) DCM told Simic that any last minute Serbian proposals would be viewed as poor tactics, and that there is complete unanimity on this point within the USG, to which Simic replied that he understood the USG resolve. Comment -------------- ¶4. (SBU) The grace, generosity, and earnestness that characterized the participation of (at least half) the Serbian delegation to the New York talks does not change the fact that Serbia will not or can not do more. End Comment.