GERMANY/KOSOVO: PLANNING TO BE AMONG THE FIRST TO

C O N F I D E N T I A L BERLIN 000184 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/14/2018 TAGS: PREL MARR NATO GM AF SUBJECT: GERMANY/KOSOVO: PLANNING TO BE AMONG THE FIRST TO RECOGNIZE, WHETHER THERE IS A EU COMMON PLATFORM OR NOT REF: A. STATE 13716 ¶B. STATE 14284 Classified By: Political Minister Counselor Jeff Rathke. REASONS: 1.4 ( B) AND (D). ¶1. (C) Summary: While a hardening of the Spanish position on Kosovo is making the achievement of a EU "common platform" increasingly unlikely, Germany plans to go forward in any case in immediately initiating the necessary procedures to recognize Kosovo after its declaration of independence. End Summary. EU common platform "in limbo" -------------- ¶2. (C) We delivered the applicable points from reftels to MFA Western Balkans Office Director Joachim Bleicker February 13 and used the occasion to ask about the status of German efforts within the EU to achieve a consensus on the way forward. Bleicker regretted that the Spanish position on Kosovo had significantly hardened in recent days because of concerns that any Spanish participation in an EU action noting or welcoming the Kosovo declaration of independence could adversely affect their March 9 elections. As a result, tentative plans for EU Foreign Ministers to agree on a "common platform" in the wake of the anticipated Kosovo declaration of independence (DI) were "in limbo." Nevertheless, EU would continue to go forward with its plans in the hopes that, in the end, consensus could be reached. EU time line -------------- ¶3. (C) Bleicker noted that EU political directors are planning to meet the evening of Feb. 17, immediately after the expected Kosovo DI, which is expected around 6 p.m. local time. The goal would be to finalize the common platform, which would be formally adopted by EU foreign ministers Feb. 18 at their regularly scheduled GEARC meeting. As currently conceived, the common platform would acknowledge the DI and note that EU member states may decide in accordance with national practices and international legal norms to establish relations with Kosovo as an independent state under international supervision. Bleicker said that in the end, the mention of Kosovo "as an independent state under international supervision" may drop out if necessary to achieve consensus. If consensus on the common platform proves unachievable, Bleicker said there are other options, including declaring the issue to be a "joint action" and therefore subject to weighted majority voting, or dealing with the issue in a declaration by participating ministers outside EU legal institutions. Germany will go forward immediately in any case -------------- -- ¶4. (C) Bleicker emphasized that whether a common EU platform is agreed or not, FM Steinmeier plans to announce after the GEARC that the German MFA will immediately initiate the necessary procedures to recognize Kosovo. Assuming that the DI is made Feb. 17, the actual German recognition of Kosovo independence would come Feb. 20, in a letter from German President Koehler, after approval of the MFA proposal by the German cabinet at its regularly scheduled Wednesday meeting. Bleicker noted that while the common EU platform is not necessary for Germany to move forward with immediate recognition, other EU member states with strong parliaments, like Austria and the Scandinavian countries, might find it difficult to do so in the absence of EU consensus. Meanwhile, Bleicker said there remains a handful of EU countries -- Cyprus, Romania, Slovakia, Greece -- who have no plans to recognize at all. Against invocation of Berlin Mechanism -------------- ¶5. (C) Bleicker welcomed the U.S. lobbying effort to block Serbia's plan to invoke the OSCE's Berlin Mechanism immediately after DI. Bleicker said that based on his own soundings, Serbia was unlikely to get the required support from 12 participating states. He also noted that the Berlin Mechanism not longer offered any practical advantages now that the OSCE Permanent Council meets on a weekly basis. He agreed, however, that it was important to block invocation of the Berlin Mechanism, which would legitimize Serbia's "theatrical" posturing on this issue. Bleicker noted that the Spanish at one point had been discreetly lobbying Andorra to support the Serbian invocation of the Berlin Mechanism, but that this had been successfully countered by France. TIMKEN JR