GAERC DEMARCHE: BULGARIA AGREES WITH U.S.

UNCLAS SOFIA 001227 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV RS LY IR SY LE BG SUBJECT: GAERC DEMARCHE: BULGARIA AGREES WITH U.S. POSITIONS REF: STATE 141316 ¶1. (SBU) We delivered reftel demarche to MFA head of office for EU affairs Sergey Tassev on October 10. Tassev said there were "no disagreements" with the US positions in the non-paper. Kosovo and Libya were the most important issues for Bulgaria. There were rumors that there was a new U.S. position paper on Kosovo, and possibly a new Russian paper as well. Would the Troika be making its own proposal to the Serbs and Kosovars? We replied that we had no information on the above papers and proposal and undertook to look into it. Tassev said his government was for strong EU engagement on Kosovo and supported going ahead with the ESDP Rule of Law mission after December 10. ¶2. (SBU) On Libya, Tassev said Bulgaria wanted to normalize relations between Libya and Europe, though Libya liked to think of itself as "unique" and not lumped in with "other Euro-Med" relations. On Iraq, Tassev said there was a new mood in the EU to be more involved on the humanitarian side and this would be discussed at the conference. He said Bulgaria intends to join in EU humanitarian efforts but had no specifics. On the EU Syria-Lebanon border mission, Tassev said Bulgaria favors the EU sending a fact finding mission to the border region before taking a decision to send an EU border mission. Karagiannis