GERMANY SUPPORTS U.S. EFFORTS ON MACEDONIAN NAME

C O N F I D E N T I A L BERLIN 000508

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/22/2018
TAGS: PREL NATO PGOV MK GR GM
SUBJECT: GERMANY SUPPORTS U.S. EFFORTS ON MACEDONIAN NAME
ISSUE

REF: STATE 40462

Classified By: POLITICAL MINISTER COUNSELOR JEFF RATHKE. REASONS: 1.4 (
B) AND (D).


1. (C) Pol-mil/external chief delivered reftel points to MFA
South Europe Deputy Office Director Felix Klein and Greece
Desk Officer Gabriele Scheel April 18, to MFA NATO Deputy
Office Director Gunnar Denecke April 21 and to MFA Western
Balkans Office Director Joachim Bleicker April 22.


2. (C) All three MFA offices emphasized that Germany shared
U.S. disappointment over the Greek veto of Macedonia's
invitation to NATO at the Bucharest Summit and agreed it was
important to stay engaged on this issue. They noted that
both Chancellor Merkel and FM Steinmeier had been very active
in the days leading up to the summit, and at the summit
itself, in trying to convince Greek PM Karamanlis and FM
Bayoyannis to show more flexibility on the name question.
Western Balkans Director Bleicker said, in fact, that Merkel
had "felt alone" in pushing this matter in Bucharest, since
the only other country that appeared to be doing so was the
United States. Bleicker said it was especially notable that
France had decided to give Greece a pass on this question.


3. (C) South Europe Deputy Klein and Greece Desk Officer
Scheel noted that the Greeks clearly expected their EU and
NATO partners to stand "closer to them" on the name issue
than to Macedonia, which made it difficult to exert too much
pressure on Athens. Klein and Scheel also noted that this
issue was literally a question of survival for the coalition
government in Athens since it only had a one-seat majority in
parliament. At least one previous Greek government had
fallen on this issue, so it was to be expected that Athens
would continue to move very cautiously. Given the
high-level attention to this issue at Bucharest, they thought
it best to back off for now and give the two parties, with
the help of Amb. Nimetz, the space to negotiate. Perhaps in
a couple of weeks, once there was something concrete to
support, it would make sense to intervene.


4. (C) Meanwhile, Bleicker said the name issue in general
would continue to figure prominently in FM Steinmeier's
talking points whenever he meets his Greek and Macedonia
counterparts. However, Bleicker expected the Greeks to
deflect pressure for now by claiming that nothing can be
negotiated with Macedonia until after a new government is
formed in Skopje following June 1 parliamentary elections.
TIMKEN JR