MACEDONIA PRESENTS ITS ANNUAL NATIONAL PLAN AT NATO

C O N F I D E N T I A L USNATO 000373

NOFORN
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/14/2018
TAGS: PREL MARR NATO MK
SUBJECT: MACEDONIA PRESENTS ITS ANNUAL NATIONAL PLAN AT NATO

Classified By: Ambassador Kurt Volker
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C/NF) Summary: Macedonia presented its Annual National
Program for 2008-2009 to NATO Allies for comment on October

6. Greece was less critical than it could have been, but
several Allies admonished Macedonia for portraying Greece, in
its ANP summary (signed by PM Gruevski),as the lone holdout
blocking Macedonian membership. For now, Allies remain
generally supportive of membership based on the Bucharest
outcome, but Macedonia will have to solve the name issue
before the April 2009 NATO Summit or risk a push by some for
the reintroduction of performance-based standards as a
further measure of eligibility to enter the Alliance. End
summary.


2. (C/NF) Ambassador Nikola Dimitrov, National Coordinator
for NATO Integration presented Macedonia's Annual National
Program for 2008-2009 to Allies on October 6. In his
presentation Dimitrov focused on Macedonia's willingness to
undertake more vigorous reform efforts, which would help
develop Macedonia into a fully functioning multiethnic
democracy. He underlined Macedonia,s commitment to solving
the name dispute, reminding NATO representatives that Skopje
had accepted the UN mediator's proposals in the run up to the
Bucharest Summit. Dimitrov underscored the 85 per cent level
of domestic support for NATO membership, even after the
disappointments of Bucharest. He emphasized Macedonia's
progress in fighting corruption, as well as progress on
decentralization, judiciary reform, and criminal justice
reform. Acknowledging "certain irregularities" in the May
elections, Dimitrov promised that Macedonia would adopt all
of the subsequent OSCE recommendations to prevent such
problems in the future. Dimitrov also pledged Skopje,s
political and material commitment to the security of the
Balkans region.


3. (C/NF) Greek Deputy PermRep Lambridis said Macedonia had
made progress in political and defense issues in recent years
but had also regressed in other areas. He said that election
problems had been a barrier to the normalization of political
life and that judicial reform had not made clear progress. He
also asserted that anti-corruption efforts must be applicable
to everyone in the country. Lambridis hoped that mention of
a place name in Greece using the Macedonian name of "Lerin"
rather than Greek name of "Florina" in the document had been
an inadvertent mistake. Lambridis said the name issue could
not be one of "winners and losers." He said that he hoped
that once the dispute was solved, cross border attitudes
would shift. He wished Dimitrov good luck for his trip to
New York to attend the Nimetz talks.


4. (C/NF) A/DCM Reid welcomed the Annual National Plan and
the frank introduction from Ambassador Dimitrov. He praised
Macedonian contributions to ISAF and Iraq missions. He
encouraged Macedonia to continue with key reform work,
maintain its MOD budget lines, and wished Dimitrov luck in
New York.


5. (C/NF) Some Allies were at pains to reduce Greek
isolation. Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, and
Luxembourg all reminded Macedonia that NATO is a
consensus-based organization and the NATO Alliance therefore
believes membership is not appropriate until the name issue
is solved.


6. (C/NF) Turkey, Lithuania, and Poland expressed a strong
preference for Macedonia,s membership as soon as possible.
Estonia, the Netherlands, and Norway hoped the name issue
could be solved soon.


7. (C/NF) Not all Allied substantive comment was
unquestioning. Slovenia insisted that Bucharest does not
allow for complacency. Canada asked if the government was
preparing the public to accept a possible deal. The
Netherlands challenged Macedonia to make the next election
flawless. The UK underscored the need for Macedonia to
implement the ODIHR electoral recommendations and to
depoliticize public appointments.


8. (C/NF) Comment: Despite Allied worries, especially
relating to apparent declines in defense spending, Macedonia
has emerged from this review relatively unscathed. They
wisely declined to engage in a debate with the Greeks in
front of the Allies, and Allies remained generally positive
in their comments. However this should not be seen as
indicative of a general willingness at NATO to leave ongoing
Macedonian reforms out of the equation when the membership
question is next considered. The Bucharest Declaration's
provision that the name issue is the last remaining barrier
to Macedonia's membership is only guaranteed to last until
the Strasbourg-Kehl Summit Declaration in April 2009. Allies
were particularly unimpressed with the conduct of the May
elections, and some seem likely to want to take a
comprehensive look at Macedonia's eligibility again after the
name issue is solved. We think we can keep them in line if
the name issue is solved before we go to Strasbourg-Kehl.
However if the name issue remains when we go to the next
Summit, we can expect to deal with a strong push from some to
reexamine criteria for membership. End Comment.
REID