BULGARIA SEEKS GUIDANCE ON HOSTING NEXT V-10

C O N F I D E N T I A L SOFIA 000218

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT. FOR EUR/NCE, EUR/SCE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/16/2017
TAGS: PREL EUN NATO XH BU
SUBJECT: BULGARIA SEEKS GUIDANCE ON HOSTING NEXT V-10
MEETING

REF: SOFIA 114

Classified By: DCM Alex Karagiannis, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (U) This is a guidance request. Please see paragraph 6.


2. (C) Foreign Minister Kalfin informally offered on January
25 to host a meeting of Vilnius-10 countries in Sofia
(reftel). The MFA remains interested in hosting the event,
but is reluctant formally to accept or discuss dates while
the meeting format, topics, and participation remain unclear.



3. (C) The Bulgarians would like to invite the Western Balkan
countries and DAS DiCarlo, as was the case in Ljubljana.
Excluding the Western Balkans would send the wrong signal to
these countries as the Kosovo final status process moves
forward, according to MFA Security Policy Director Petyo
Petev, who represented Bulgaria at the meeting in Ljubljana.
The Bulgarian preference is for the format to be similar to
Ljubljana: a working dinner on the eve of the meeting,
followed by a working breakfast, formal meeting at the MFA,
and finally a working lunch. The dinner and breakfast could
be breakout sessions for the V-10 and Western Balkans, hosted
by PDAS Volker and DAS DiCarlo respectively, as we understand
was the case in Ljubljana.


4. (C) We suggest the following core agenda items; the
Bulgarians will accept almost anything we suggest, but may
want to add a few items of their own:

Energy Security - This should be our "headline" issue --
specifically, encouraging V-10 nations to speak with a common
voice for a strong EU energy policy.

Black Sea Security - Bulgarians and Romanians often speak of
"EU on the Black Sea" -- discussions could highlight the
implications of their recent accession, while emphasizing the
continuing need for engagement with Georgia and the need for
a workable framework for multilateral security cooperation
(such as Operation Black Sea Harmony).

Afghanistan - We should encourage participants to discuss how
Allies can better cooperate in ways that will allow them to
lift caveats and strengthen ISAF, e.g., by sharing equipment
and experience. Bulgaria, for example, has staff officers in
Hungary's Afghan PRT and appears close to an
equipment-sharing agreement with Italy that will allow it to
lift caveats in their joint area of operations.

Kosovo - Particularly if Western Balkan nations are invited,
discussion of Kosovo and Euro-Atlantic integration of the
Balkans will be high on the agenda. The Bulgarians will
no-doubt want to add this to the agenda in any case.



5. (SBU) Timing: We suggest proposing to the Bulgarians that
they host the V-10 meeting before the next NATO ministerial
in late April. We understand PDAS Volker and DAS DiCarlo
will be available the weeks of April 9 and April 16. The
Bulgarians have indicated that at least the first half of the
week of April 9 would not be feasible (they will be streaming
back to Sofia from the Orthodox Easter Monday holiday on
April 9).

Guidance request:
--------------


6. (C) We request Department guidance on the meeting's
proposed agenda, format, and the availability of Washington
participants. The Bulgarian MFA has asked for this
information prior to making a final decision whether to host
the meeting. We understand the Slovenes will host an
informal meeting of V-10 embassies in Washington on February
23, and we will encourage the Bulgarians to offer formally to
host the meeting at that time.

BEYRLE