CANADIAN QUESTIONS ON KOSOVO

C O N F I D E N T I A L OTTAWA 000219 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/12/2018 TAGS: PREL UN UNMIK PGOV YI EU CA SUBJECT: CANADIAN QUESTIONS ON KOSOVO REF: A. STATE 13716 ¶B. 07 OTTAWA 2266 Classified By: PolMinCouns Scott Bellard, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (U) This is an action request -- see para 3. ¶2. (C) According to Department of Foreign Affairs Director General for Central, East, and South Europe Robert Hage, the Cabinet Committee during the week of February 4 had agreed that Canada could not be in the first wave of countries to recognize an independent Kosovo. Despite consensus that the Kosovo situation was indeed sui generis, there remained some concern about domestic implications related to Quebec. The Cabinet, however, did not formally endorse a recognition of independence even in the second wave, but instead invited Foreign Minister Bernier to return with his recommendation to do so "when appropriate." Hage commented that Canada will watch closely the timing of the recognitions of independence by Norway and the Netherlands in particular, and believes that neither will be in the first wave, either. Hage confirmed that DFAIT had had to present to the Cabinet the option of not recognizing Kosovo at all, but he predicted with confidence that the government would never go this route. He added that a number of Embassies, including those of the UK, Germany, and Russia, had met with DFAIT in recent days on Kosovo. ¶3. (C) Action request: Hage requested another telephone conversation with EUR DAS Rosemary DiCarlo to clarify: -- what we envision by "supervised independence" (ref a), i.e. will UN or EU authorities have the power to disallow new laws and what exactly will their roles be; -- what exact date will the declaration take place, which is important to DFAIT in advance as it figures out when Bernier needs to brief the Cabinet and urge recognition. He noted that he had heard at the G8 Political Directors' meeting that it would be February 17. Visit Canada,s Economy and Environment Forum at http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/can ada WILKINS