CONGRESSMAN ROHRABACHER'S MEETING WITH TADIC

C O N F I D E N T I A L BELGRADE 000498

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O.12958: DECL: 04/13/17
TAGS: PBTS UNSC PGOV PREL SR
SUBJECT: CONGRESSMAN ROHRABACHER'S MEETING WITH TADIC


CLASSIFIED BY AMBASSADOR MICHAEL POLT, REASONS 1.4 (B,D)


1. (c) Congressman Rohrabacher's (R-CA) April 13-14 visit to
Belgrade was dominated by a candid meeting with President Tadic on
April 13. Tadic used the meeting to urge the Congressman not to move
forward with a resolution supporting the Ahtisaari plan and
supervised independence for Kosovo. Tadic said that in order for him
to be able to pursue his vision of maintaining a strategic
partnership with the U.S. in the aftermath of a Kosovo status
decision, he would need to have a reservoir of policymakers in the US
who he could portray to the Serbian people as sensitive to Serbia and
its interests, and that a resolution now would tie the Congress to
the administration policy and not allow for him to create room to
work with US policymakers after Kosovo. The Congressman reiterated
that there is absolute unity between the legislative and executive
branches on Kosovo, but said he would make every effort to ensure
that the resolution included language that highlighted the importance
of continued positive U.S.-Serbian relations.


2. (c) Speaking more broadly, Tadic acknowledged that Serbia was
atoning for the past sins of Milosevic, but drew an analogy to
punishing his own children - after six or seven days, he said, his
daughter could not understand what she was still being punished for,
and ultimately just briefly resented him. He said a Kosovo solution
could not create winners and losers - a zero-sum solution would
ultimately not be sustainable and would destabilize the region. He
acknowledged that both Serbia and the U.S. were striving for
stability, but said there was a disconnect in our communication over
this. A solution that created stability in the short term for
Kosovo, he said, would destabilize Serbia. And a destabilized Serbia
would ultimately destabilize the region.


3. (c) Tadic went on to say that Kosovo was not simply a question
of territory, but of identity. He noted that many in Serbia are now
chanting the mantra, "without Kosovo, there is no Serbia." Kosovo,
he claimed, is the deeply rooted seat of Serbian culture and
religious tradition. He warned against forcing Serbs to make a
trade-off of Kosovo for EU membership, emphasizing that EU membership
remained a key priority for him.


4. (c) Rohrabacher appreciated the context, but noted that the
facts on the ground created by Milosevic simply could not be
overlooked or overcome. There might have been other solutions to
Kosovo status absent Milosevic's atrocities, but now that the well
was poisoned, those other options could no longer realistically be
considered. Kosovar Albanians simply could not live under Belgrade
rule, and quasi-status is not an option. The Ahtisaari plan,
Rohrabacher stressed, takes meticulous care of and holds in deep
regard Serbia's special relationship with its patrimonial sites in
Kosovo. Solving Kosovo, the Congressman maintained, was about the
future of Serbia - the sooner Kosovo is solved, the sooner Serbia's
future can begin. In effect, if Serbia "wins" by forestalling a
conclusion to Kosovo status, it loses, dooming Serbia to a permanent
condition of stasis and dooming Kosovo to permanent instability while
the rest of Europe moves forward without it.


5. (u) Congressman Rohrabacher did not have the opportunity to
clear this message.

POLT