INTERIOR MINISTER ON VWP, DATA SHARING, AND MORE

C O N F I D E N T I A L LJUBLJANA 000107

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/NCE, EUR/ERA, EUR/SCE, EUR/OHI, DS/IP/EUR
DHS for Michael Scardaville
DOJ for Bruce Swartz

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/05/2018
TAGS: CVIS PGOV PREL EUN ASEC SI
SUBJECT: INTERIOR MINISTER ON VWP, DATA SHARING, AND MORE

Classified by: DCA Maryruth Coleman for reasons 1.4(b) and (d)


1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Please handle accordingly.

Summary
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2. (SBU) In a March 5 meeting with Charge dQAffaires (CDA)
Maryruth Coleman, Interior Minister Dragutin Mate offered insight
into the European UnionQs internal divisions over the U.S. Visa
Waiver Program (VWP),promised not to let the VWP hijack next
weekQs US-EU Troika Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Ministerial
meeting, agreed that the High Level Contact GroupQs work on data
protection common principles should be a key deliverable for the
US-EU Summit in June, and shared observations on recent
developments in the Balkans, including Kosovo independence. End
summary.

Visa Waiver Program
--------------


3. (SBU) Noting the recent controversy over the Czech signing of
the VWP Memorandum of Understanding (MOU),the CDA pointed out
that the USG has a very limited window to add new VWP members, and
that any delays by the EU could mean fewer new members. Although
the VWP is strictly a bilateral program, the CDA assured Mate that
the USG did not wish to divide the EU and would work with the
Commission. She also firmly requested MateQs help in making sure
that VWP concerns do not hijack the US-EU JHA Troika Ministerial
meeting in Slovenia on March 12-13.


4. (SBU) Mate said the issue had divided the EU Member States,
none of which had shown to the others the MOUs presented by the
USG. Mate said the MOU presented to Slovenia included some issues
which he believed fell under EU competency, and therefore he felt
he could not and should not sign it in its present form. He
believed that the Czech MOU contained different language and
provisions, which perhaps did not as directly fall under EU
competency.


5. (SBU) He noted that the VWP MOUs were not international
agreements, but rather were simply statements of future direction
Q he called them Qpolitical actsQ Q and that the EUQs real concern
was over the negotiating of any bilateral implementing agreements
of these MOUs. He said he hoped that the March 5 COREPER meeting
in Brussels would establish much-needed Qred linesQ to make it
clear for all Member States and for the USG what the common rules
and limits would be.


6. (C) He elaborated that the EU divide now seemed to be between
current VWP members and aspiring VWP members, primarily over the
issue of the proposed Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA)
system. He felt that aspiring VWP states could sell the idea to
their citizens that the ETA was an improvement over current visa
requirements. But current VWP members would see the ETA as a step
backwards and would view it as being like a visa Q advanced USG
approval to be obtained before travel, with the traveler having to
wait some (as yet unknown) period of time before receiving an
answer required in order to make travel arrangements. He
described this as a Qhard sellQ to the citizens of current VWP
members, and he questioned whether they would accept it. For this
reason, current VWP members are pressuring Slovenia to slow down
any VWP talks with the USG.


7. (SBU) Mate noted the limited window for VWP expansion, and
said that it posed problems in that likely only 5 or 6 new states
could join during this window, but there are 12 EU aspirants, and
those not able to join at this time would cause even more trouble
within the EU on visa reciprocity issues.


8. (C) On the margins of the CDAQs meeting with Mate, SloveniaQs
main working-level point of contact for VWP issues told conoff
that, within the EU, there was also a problem of attitude. While
Estonia was being forthright about its goal of joining the VWP, it
treated the Commission with respect and promised to keep the
Commission in the loop. But a Czech Republic representative in
Brussels told a Commission meeting that Qthe Czechs are not slaves
to the CommissionQ and vowed to sign the VWP despite Commission
objections, which alienated many.

Data Sharing
--------------


9. (SBU) The CDA thanked Mate for SloveniaQs leadership that made
possible the recent progress on finding common principles for data
protection and data sharing in the law enforcement context. She
asked Mate to keep pushing this issue at the JHA Troika
Ministerial meeting next week and emphasized it as a true win-win
as a deliverable for the June US-EU Summit meeting in Slovenia.


10. (SBU) Mate expressed surprise at the recent progress on this
issue, but said he was happy about it, and agreed that this was an
achievable goal for the summit. He said he understood that, of
the original 10 topics for discussion under this umbrella, only
Qone and a halfQ (NFI) remain unresolved.

Kosovo Independence
--------------


11. (C) Mate told CDA that after the damage to the Slovene and
American Embassies in Belgrade during anti-Kosovo demonstrations,
Slovene Border Police tightened controls to prevent suspected Serb
extremists, even those with valid Slovene visas, from
participating in subsequent planned demonstrations in Slovenia.
He offered to share with RSO the videotape from the Slovene
Embassy in Belgrade that shows Serbian police guards apparently
obeying orders from a superior officer to permit hooligans to
enter and ransack the Slovene Embassy.


12. (C) Mate expressed sympathy for the difficult situation that
the Serbian government and people are in, but said they must
accept Kosovo independence as inevitable. He said the Serbian
government has not yet realized that the damage to the Embassies
will also cause long-lasting damage to SerbiaQs relations with the
region and the world. Mate said he would quietly fly to Kosovo on
March 7 to meet with Slovene police units participating in the EU
mission, including in the troubled town of Mitrovica.

The EU and the Balkans
--------------


13. (SBU) Mate noted that the EU was in talks with Serbia,
Macedonia, Montenegro, and Albania to liberalize visa requirements
for their citizens to travel to the EU. Mate and EU Commission
Vice President Franco Frattini will meet with Albanian officials
in Tirana on March 7 for the next round of these talks, which are
recognition of the progress that each of these countries has made
in document security and border control measures.


14. (SBU) Mate pointed out that Slovenia used to share the same
legal system and police organizational structure as these other
countries until its 1991 independence, so it can offer lessons
learned from its own transition to EU methods and standards.
Slovenia currently assists each of these countries with training,
such as demonstrations of border police practices.


15. (C) Mate also said that in each of the last two years, he has
quietly met with his counterparts from the former Yugoslav states
to build personal relationships and foster cooperation. He said
the absence of any international bodies (he cited the OSCE and the
EU) made the gatherings more relaxed and friendly. The group met
in August 2006 in Montenegro and in October 2007 in Serbia, and
would next meet later in 2008 in Croatia. He said the meetings
had translated into on-the-ground cooperation, such as the 2007
seizure in Croatia of a network that illegally manufactured and
distributed military-caliber weapons.

Comment
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16. (C) Mate and Slovenia are in a difficult situation regarding
the VWP. As the only new EU Member State that is also in the VWP,
Slovenia has often fielded uncomfortable questions from VWP
aspirants. Now, holding the Presidency, Slovenia is even more in
the spotlight, trying to balance the many competing EU interests
on this issue. On data sharing, Mate is in a good position as the
JHA Council Chair to help bring the EU along towards securing a
firm deliverable in time for the June summit.

COLEMAN