Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07BRATISLAVA146
2007-03-12 17:28:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Bratislava
Cable title:  

UPDATE ON SLOVAKIA'S KOSOVO DEBATE

Tags:  PREL PGOV YI KO LO 
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BRATISLAVA 000146 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/17/2012
TAGS: PREL PGOV YI KO LO
SUBJECT: UPDATE ON SLOVAKIA'S KOSOVO DEBATE

Classified By: Ambassador Vallee for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BRATISLAVA 000146

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/17/2012
TAGS: PREL PGOV YI KO LO
SUBJECT: UPDATE ON SLOVAKIA'S KOSOVO DEBATE

Classified By: Ambassador Vallee for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary and action recommendation: In separate
conversations, President Gasparovic, the International
Secretary of PM Fico's Smer party, and a Christian Democrat

SIPDIS
MP told us that Slovakia will not be outside the European
mainstream on Kosovo. Nonetheless, in a March 12 press
appearance with visiting Serbian DefMin Stankovic, a
seemingly off-the-reservation DefMin Kasicky stated that
Slovakia opposed the right of a national minority to create a
state in Kosovo. MFA PolDir Lajcak (reached in Serbia) was
surprised by the comment and said that FM Kubis was giving a
completely different message during his March 12 meetings in
Belgrade. Despite plans for German Chancellor Merkel and
British PM Blair to approach Fico on the sidelines of the
European Council meeting, FM Kubis told the Ambassador no
such discussions took place. Comment and recommendation: Our
European partners must be persuaded to help carry the water
on Kosovo with the Slovaks; we should not be the only ones
with this message, especially in light of Fico's upcoming
visit to Moscow. End summary.

President: Slovakia Will be in European Mainstream
-------------- --------------

2. (C) President Ivan Gasparovic March 12 made it clear to
the Ambassador that he does not want to see Slovakia outside
the mainstream on the Kosovo issue and said Slovakia would be
with the consensus European position. Gasparovic took credit
for delaying a parliamentary vote on Kosovo through his party
consultations, and for watering down the Slovak National
Party (SNS) resolution before it was introduced. He stressed
that the security of Europe was a more important issue than
the political posturing currently going on in Slovakia and
said he would continue to work with all parties to arrive at
a consensus. Gasparovic does not believe there is a majority
in parliament that would vote to bind FM Kubis, hands.


3. (C) Asked whether a mainstream position means Slovakia
will not abstain on the ultimate UNSC resolution, the
President said Slovakia would abstain only if it did not harm

the chances of the resolution passing. Gasparovic asked how
hard the Russians were working the Africans on the UNSC. The
Ambassador responded that EU unity and a yes vote by Slovakia
are vitally important in influencing the Russians and the
Africans. The President repeated an earlier comment that in
the end the US and Russia would strike some deal and nobody
else really mattered. We will continue to reinforce the
message that Slovakia needs to vote in favor of a resolution.


KDH: We Won't be Anti-American or Anti-EU on Kosovo
-------------- --------------

4. (C) MP Vladimir Palko, who is currently running for the
leadership of the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) against
incumbent chairman Pavol Hrusovsky, told the Ambassador March
12 that his biggest objection to Ahtisaari,s plan is that it
would create a Muslim state in Europe. Palko said it would be
hard to backtrack on many years of a KDH position calling for
no change in Serbia,s borders but that "KDH would do nothing
to be anti-American or anti-EU on the matter."

Smer: We Won't Let "Slavic Pride" Ruin Our Reputation
-------------- --------------

5. (C) Poloff accompanied seven Slovak MPs for a two-day tour
of USEU, SHAPE and NATO on March 8-9, where Kosovo was the
dominant topic of conversation. After several meetings in
which representatives of SNS and the opposition Slovak
Democratic and Christian Union (SDKU) vied to be the most
hostile to Kosovo independence, the MPs met with U.S. PermRep
Nuland. Ambassador Nuland impressed the delegates with
arguments about the "least-bad" option, the need for European
and trans-Atlantic unity and the comparison of crimes
committed by the KLA to those committed by Serbia under
Milosovic's presidency. Afterwards, Smer MP and International
Secretary Juraj Horvath told poloff privately, "It is clear

SIPDIS
what the decision will be, and Smer will not let our partners
(read: SNS) ruin Slovakia's reputation for the sake of Slavic
pride." Poloff asked if Smer was not concerned that SDKU
would continue trying to score political points with the
Kosovo issue. Horvath responded that Smer's government is
young and they can withstand the pressure. "We know what our
voters really care about (and don't care about)."

Major Deviation by DefMin Kasicky
--------------

6. (C) Despite these positive signals, Defense Minister

BRATISLAVA 00000146 002.2 OF 002


Frantisek Kasicky, at a joint press conference with visiting
Serbian Minister of Defense Zoran Stankovic March 12, stated,
"It is not possible to support a development resulting in a
national minority, which has its own mother state, having the
right to create another state." PolDir Miroslav Lajcak, who
is in Belgrade with FM Jan Kubis, told PolEc Chief he had not
seen the reports of Kasicky's comments (nor had others in the
MFA when we forwarded the wire service story),but that Kubis
in Belgrade was delivering a completely different message. A
frustrated Lajcak sighed, "You can take this as an example of
the coordination that exists in this government." Kubis was
heading into his final meeting with President Tadic when we
spoke with Lajcak. We will report his reaction septel.
Kubis will also meet with Stankovic on March 13, when MFA
contacts tell us the media outcome will be better. (Comment:
We see Kasicky's remarks as off the reservation, rather than
some political tactic to please all sides.)

Euros Drop the Ball
--------------

7. (C) We had been told by German and UK diplomats in
Bratislava that both Chancellor Merkel and PM Blair might
have "pull-asides" or "brush-bys" with PM Fico during the
March 8-9 European Council meeting. FM Kubis told the
Ambassador that no such bilateral discussion took place.
Lajcak (protect) bemoaned to DCM this lost opportunity to
influence his government. He recommended the upcoming
GYMNICH meeting in Berlin as an opportunity for the UK and
Germany to make the case to Fico. Comment and action
recommendation: Intense U.S. diplomatic efforts to convince
Slovakia to adhere to "European unity" on Kosovo have started
to turn political opinion, but it is clear from remarks like
Kasicky's that the battle is not yet won. It is necessary to
keep pressure on our European partners to carry water on the
issue as well. It is especially crucial to shore up Fico
before his April 3-4 official visit to Moscow. We recommend
that Washington take another run at our European partners.
End comment.

At Least Some in the Media Get It
--------------

8. (U) In a commentary for the daily Sme, columnist Marian
Lesko made our case well: "Talks between Serbs and Kosovar
Albanians have reached a dead end, as neither group is
willing to alter its original position. This means that the
topic of Kosovo will return to Slovak politics a month after
it left it. Let us hope in a different form.

"The competition between Slovak political parties to see who
could be more loudly against the proposal to give Kosovo
limited autonomy without Serbian agreement had a hysterical
undertone. Slovak politicians were unable to judge the matter
on its merits, but only according to their own interests.
They treated the Kosovo question as though they were deciding
on autonomy for ethnic Hungarians in southern Slovakia. They
were too arrogant and selfish to understand that it wasn't
about them, but about whether people will continue to die in
the Balkans.

"Most EU and NATO states understand that there is no good
solution for Kosovo, only bad and worse, and that leaving
Kosovo's status up in the air until an uncontrollable
'solution' comes along is worse that giving it autonomy now
despite opposition from Serbia. The Ahtisaari plan goes to
the UN Security Council before the end of March, with a vote
to be held in June. Slovak politicians have until then to see
if they can stop thinking about Kosovo 'in Slovak'."
VALLEE