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
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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
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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
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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
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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.