SERBIA'S PFP PRESENTATION DOCUMENT BETTER, BUT ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L BELGRADE 000160 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/02/2017 TAGS: MARR NATO PREL PGOV SR SUBJECT: SERBIA'S PFP PRESENTATION DOCUMENT BETTER, BUT ON HOLD REF: A. BELGRADE 156 ¶B. BELGRADE 153 Classified By: POLCHIEF Gustavo Delgado, reasons 1.4 (b,d) ¶1. (c) Emboffs met February 2 with Milan Milanovic, chief of the MFA NATO Directorate, to discuss the latest draft of the PfP Presentation Document. Milanovic handed over a copy of the latest Serbian language draft, and said the English language version will be ready by February 6. The document now contains ICTY language consistent with President Tadic's pre-Riga letter to the President, including specific reference to a commitment to arrest at-large indictees. The new document is still liberally peppered with direct and oblique references to Kosovo, but the more confrontational phrases we highlighted in previous discussions appear to have been stricken or softened. ¶2. (c) Milanovic said the document is now 90 percent complete, and should be ready for review in the government's defense committee on February 6. He expressed reservations, though, as to whether or not the government would consider itself competent to clear the draft, citing PM Kostunica's recent rationalization for refusing to meet with UN Special Rep Ahtisaari. Milanovic also expressed reservations that, should the government agree to consider the draft, the text would survive in its current state. He said advisors from President Tadic's office had approached him and advised against moving the document forward, saying the current government would likely soften the ICTY language and harden the Kosovo references. Better, they said, to wait for the formation of a new government, when they expected a new defense ministry to be more amenable to a stronger defense reform and engagement agenda. Milanovic said it is thus unlikely that the PD will be presented to the government until after a government is formed. POLT