BOSNIA - PARLIAMENT FAILS TO PASS POLICE REFORM;

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SARAJEVO 000608

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

EUR FOR DICARLO, EUR/SCE (HOH, FOOKS, STINCHCOMB); NSC FOR
BRAUN; OSD FOR BEIN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/02/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR EU BK
SUBJECT: BOSNIA - PARLIAMENT FAILS TO PASS POLICE REFORM;
LAJCAK READIES ULTIMATUM

REF: A. SARAJEVO 599

B. SARAJEVO 521

C. SARAJEVO 488

Classified By: Michael J. Murphy. Reasons 1.4 (b),(d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: As anticipated, Parliament failed to pass
police reform legislation at its April 2 session (Ref A).
Party for BiH (SBiH),Alliance of Independent Social
Democrats (SNSD),and Croatian Democratic Union-BiH (HDZ-BiH)
each put forward its own version of the laws, but failed to
negotiate a harmonized compromise. Opposition
parliamentarians (and several independent observers)
characterized the debate and proceedings as a "circus." High
Representative Miroslav Lajcak has concluded that the only
way out of the current impasse is to deliver an ultimatum to
party leaders, including a "take it or leave it"
"international community" compromise text. The text would
split the difference between SBiH President Haris Silajdzic's
demand for amendments that would guarantee a specific outcome
to a second phase of police reform and SNSD President Milorad
Dodik's refusal to consider any amendments whatsoever, even
those drawn verbatim from the Mostar Declaration and Sarajevo
Action Plan. Lajcak has called an April 3 meeting of the
U.S., EC, and Turkish Ambassadors to seek their support for
this approach. Lajcak's strategy calls for publicly blaming
the parties and party leaders that reject the compromise for
blocking Bosnia's road to Europe. END SUMMARY

Police Reform Debate Degenerates into a Circus
-------------- -


2. (C) The three Speakers of the House of Representatives
(HoR) met before the start of the April 2's HoR session, but
as expected, were unable to agree on harmonized drafts of the
police reform laws. Despite urging from OHR to delay House
consideration of police reform legislation until they had
agreed on a compromise version of the laws, SBiH, SNSD, and
HDZ-BiH each put forward its own version of the laws.
Parliament then began a lengthy discussion on whether to
allow consideration of the three different sets of the laws
under urgent procedure. During the debate, most delegates
rehashed their parties' view on the police reform package
itself and attacked their political opponents. Several
opposition party members accused the Collegium of creating a
circus by allowing the introduction of three similar laws and
urged the governing coalition to rally behind single version
of the law.


3. (C) At 15:00 Parliament called for a break to allow the
Speakers to make "one last attempt" to harmonize their
parties' versions of the laws. The meeting failed to produce
a compromise, and we were told that several MPs outside the
room heard SBiH Speaker Belkic screaming at his colleagues.
The overall mood n Parliament deteriorated during the course
of te day as it became clear that no one would compromie.
At 17:00 Parliament moved on to other busines on the agenda.
The Collegium had planned to voe tomorrow on all agenda
items, including whether to allow one, two, or all three
versions of the police reform legislation to be considered
under urgent procedure. However, OHR contacts tell us that
they have persuaded the Collegium to delay consideration of
any police reform legislation until April 10.

Next Steps for the International Community
--------------


4. (C) We spoke with OHR in the early evening of April 2.
According to OHR staff, Lajcak has decided that forceful
intervention by OHR/EUSR and key Ambassadors is the only way
out of the current impasse. He wants the EC, Turkish, and
U.S. Ambassadors to join him at a meeting with party leaders
who signed the Mostar Declaration and Sarajevo Action Plan
sometime in the next several days. (Note: Lajcak will not
invite Party for Democratic Action President Tihic, who has
strongly opposed the draft legislation. End Note) Lajcak's
plan is to present the party leaders with "take it or leave
it versions" of the two draft laws, what OHR staff referred
to us as "the international community's texts."


5. (C) The "international community texts" would incorporate
language from the Mostar Declaration and Sarajevo Action Plan

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that reference the three EC principles and a second phase of
police reform. This would take the form of distinct articles
in the legislation. The "international community texts"
would fall short of language contained in SBiH's proposed
amendments, which go beyond the Mostar Declaration and
Sarajevo Action Plan. However, the tabling of "international
community texts" would also explicitly challenge SNSD's
dogmatic refusal of any amendments to police reform
legislation, including verbatim language from the Mostar
Declaration and Sarajevo Action Plan, which Dodik has already
signed.

Assigning Clear Blame
--------------


6. (C) Lajcak would make clear to all five party leaders, but
particularly to Dodik and Silajdzic that if they refuse to
support the "international community texts," the
international community would publicly blame opponents for
the failure of police reform and for blocking Bosnia's path
to Europe.

-- The core message to Silajdzic would be: "We will not
support SBiH amendments from the working group because they
go beyond the Mostar Declaration and Sarajevo Action Plan. We
are prepared to support a proposal as long as it is 100
percent drawn from the Mostar Declaration and Sarajevo Action
Plan, including explicit reference to the three EU principles
and phase two. On March 20, your party was ready to accept
amendments based only on the Mostar Declaration and Sarajevo
Action Plan. We want to bring the process back to this
point."

-- The core message to Dodik would be: "You signed the Mostar
Declaration and Sarajevo Action Plan, and it is unacceptable
to reject language drawn in part or in whole from these
documents. You need to be aware that if SNSD rejects
proposals that include verbatim language from the Mostar
Declaration and Sarajevo Action Plan, you will be responsible
for failure of police reform and be blamed for being anti-SAA
and anti-Europe."
ENGLISH