NATO: FRIENDS OF KOSOVO PROPOSAL UNVEILED

C O N F I D E N T I A L USNATO 000229 SIPDIS NOFORN E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/01/2018 TAGS: NATO PGOV PREL KV MOPS SUBJECT: NATO: FRIENDS OF KOSOVO PROPOSAL UNVEILED REF: OLSON/FRIED/DICARLO EMAILS Classified By: CDA Richard G. Olson, reasons 1.4 (b and d) ¶1. (C) The Belgian Permanent Representative to NATO at a July 1 lunch meeting of NATO Permanent Representatives formally introduced the "Friends of Kosovo" concept of bringing together representatives of nations and international organizations involved in Kosovo in an informal setting in order to get around some of the theological difficulties of NATO-EU cooperation on Kosovo. Saying he spoke with the support of France, Germany, UK, Turkey, Italy, the Netherlands, and the U.S., the Belgian PermRep outlined the idea (originally floated by the Turkish PermRep) of bringing together NATO PermReps, PSC Ambassadors, and representatives from the United Nations, OSCE, Non-NATO troop contributors, and Non-EU Troop Contributors in an informal format with no formal agenda. (Note: In practice the universe of Non-NATO and Non-EU troop contributors are: Armenia, Croatia, Switzerland, Morocco, and Ukraine). Belgium offered to host such an event at 0930 on July 18 at the Palais d'Egmont in Brussels. The discussion would focus on better coordination of international actors operating in Kosovo, but would not act as a substitute for other existing fora, such as the NAC-PSC. In prior discussions, Turkey insisted that any discussion be strategic in nature and not be operational (i.e. no fixing of revision 3 of the NATO Balkans OPLAN 10501). ¶2. (C) All Allies strongly endorsed the initiative. Charge, Olson, with support from Slovenia, proposed that representatives of Kosovo attend as observers, however, Spain, with support from Greece, Romania, and Slovakia, rejected this idea for now, preferring not to complicate things for the first meeting. They left open the possibility of Pristina's involvement "down the road". The Spanish PermRep mentioned that if other Allies insist on Kosovo authorities attending, then Spain would insist on Serbian participation as well. The NATO SecGen concluded by saying that both Solana and he welcomed such an initiative and that they would attend as guests as is the case of Transatlantic dinners. OLSON