SLOVENIA SUPPORTS U.S. KOSOVO POSITION IN OSCE, NO

C O N F I D E N T I A L LJUBLJANA 000060 SIPDIS SIPDIS FOR EUR/NCE E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/12/2018 TAGS: PREL UNAUS UNMIK PGOV YI EU OSCE SI SUBJECT: SLOVENIA SUPPORTS U.S. KOSOVO POSITION IN OSCE, NO EU MEMBERS WILL SUPPORT SERBIA BERLIN MECHANISM INITIATIVE REF: STATE 14284 Classified By: CDA Maryruth Coleman for reasons 1.4 (b,d) ¶1. (C) On February 12, Emboff delivered reftel points to Damjan Bergant, MFA Head of Department for OSCE and CoE and Chairman of COSCE, who stated that Slovenia fully agrees with the U.S. view of Serbia's efforts to invoke the OSCE's Berlin Mechanism after an anticipated declaration of independence by Kosovo. Bergant stated that upon learning that Slovakia, Germany, Spain, and Cyprus were contemplating support for Serbia's Berlin Mechanism initiative, Slovenia dispatched Ambassadors in all EU countries to dissuade EU members from supporting the Serbian effort. He reported that Slovenia received confirmation from all EU members that none will support the use of the Berlin Mechanism by Serbia to force an OSCE meeting on Kosovo. ¶2. (C) Bergant also noted, however, that it is possible that the Finnish OSCE chair could still call a Permanent Council meeting to discuss Kosovo. Should this happen, or should Serbia be successful in garnering the support of 12 OSCE members for an invocation of the Berlin Mechanism and thereby force an emergency meeting, Bergant strongly believes that nothing of consequence would happen and that the Permanent Council would not find any violation of the Helsinki Final Act in Kosovo's independence. Bergant suggested that Serbia's efforts to invoke the Berlin Mechanism may simply be a strategy to demonstrate to the Serbian public that the government has taken all possible steps to prevent Kosovo's independence, thereby removing a potential point of criticism from the opposition's arsenal. COLEMAN