ZAGREB ACTIVITY REPORT - JULY 11

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ZAGREB 000517 DEPT FOR EUR/SCE, EUR/RPM, EUR/PPD, PRM AND S/WCI LAVINE OSD FOR POPOVICH SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV KAWC HR SUBJECT: ZAGREB ACTIVITY REPORT - JULY 11 REF: ZAGREB ¶1. (U) CROATIAN FM ATTENDS SIGNING OF NATO PROTOCOL: Croatian Foreign Minister Jandrokovic attended the signing of the NATO Accession Protocol for Albania and Croatia in Brussels on July 9. Croatian press reports, with headlines such as "From Now On NATO Protects Us," featured Jandrokovic's praise of the Croatian military, his affirmation of Croatia's intent to continue reforms, and his comments that the admission of Croatia and Albania should serve as a positive signal to other countries in the region to move forward on their own paths toward Euro-Atlantic integration. ¶2. (U) AND MAKES FIRST BILATERAL VISIT TO SLOVENIA IN YEARS: A day earlier, on July 8, Jandrokovic visited Slovenia, meeting with PM Jansa and FM Rupel to discuss a range of open bilateral issues. While the two governments have had several meetings on the margins of other multilateral events, this was the first strictly bilateral discussion between the two governments in several years. Both Rupel and Jandrokovic said that bilateral relations were better "than they sometimes appeared in public", and Rupel announced that Slovenia was now prepared to let the EU open accession negotiations with Croatia on the Fisheries chapter. Commenting on the most serious irritant in Croatia-Slovenia relations, a series of maritime and land border disputes, FM Jandrokovic said that the "quality" of any solution was more important than how quickly it is resolved. ¶3. (U) A/S FRIED VISITS DUBROVNIK FOR CROATIA SUMMIT 2008: PM Sanader hosted the Third Annual Croatia Summit in Dubrovnik on July 4-5. Participants including the President of Georgia; Prime Ministers of Hungary, Slovakia, Albania, Kosovo, and Montenegro; and FMs of Poland, Sweden and Macedonia focused heavily on the future of EU enlargement. The message was that Croatia, and any other candidates, should not let the EU's internal difficulties over the Lisbon Treaty distract them from the continued reforms and negotiations needed to prepare and qualify for EU membership. More valuable than the generally stilted presentations, was the opportunity for side meetings on the margins. One conspicuous absentee was the government of Serbia. PM Sanader told A/S Fried that he had sent an invitation to President Tadic personally, but that Tadic was not able to attend. A/S Fried, in his remarks, noted �00A;his regret that no one from Belgrade was at the Conference. ¶4. (U) CONSTITUTIONAL COURT PRESIDENT DESCRIBES AMBITIOUS REFORM AGENDA: In a July 10 meeting with the Ambassador, newly-elected Constitutional Court President Jasna Omejec stressed that serious reform was needed to improve the Court's effectiveness. The Court currently struggles with a backlog of as many as 8000 cases, and receives soem 5000 new cases annually, because current law provides no limits on who has standing to bring a case. A single plaintiff filed 790 separate cases in a single year. Justice Omejec said she had begun a dialogue with the government on the necessary changes to the law to allow the Court to focus its work on the most relevant cases to protect human rights and Croatia's constitutional principles. ¶5. (U) PRESIDENT MESIC IN MONTENEGRO: Croatian President Stipe Mesic visited Podgorica, Montenegro on July 8. Both Mesic and his host, President Filip Vujanovic, described cooperation between the two countries as successful, with no open issues other than the disputed Prevlaka peninsula, just south of Dubrovnik. Mesic said the temporary arrangement for Prevlaka was working very well, with no incidents reported thus far. The Croatian President described Montenegro as the region's most serious candidate for EU membership after Croatia. ¶6. (U) GOVT ADVANCES EFFORT TO DELIVER SERBS' PENSIONS: UNHCR's Zagreb office was informed this week that the Croatian government has taken a further step toward easing the requirements for ethnic Serb returnees to receive "convalidation" of their pension rights and be given credit for time employed in the Serb-occupied territories during the 1990's conflict. On June 20, the Government formally repealed an earlier decision setting a 1999 deadline to apply for such convalidation, meaning that there is no longer any deadline for such applications. ¶7. (SBU) TRIAL OF NATURALIZED AMCIT FOR WAR CRIMES BEGINS: On July 10, the Sisak County Court held the first hearing in the trial of naturalized American citizen Zeljko Vrljanovic, who is accused of killing civilians in the Novska area in March 1993. Vrljanovic, who was arrested in Munich on the basis of an Interpol warrant in late 2007 as he was returning to the U.S. after a visit to Serbia, was extradited to Croatia in December. His lawyer immediately filed a motion to move the case from the court in Sisak to one of the four regional courts in Croatia where staff have received specific training in handling of war crimes cases. Post, which supported the designation of the four chambers for war crimes cases, believes a change of venue would provide a useful boost to the chances of an adequate trial. A decision on the motion may be made in the coming week, but the trial itself will likely recommence only in ZAGREB 00000517 002 OF 002 September. ¶8. (U) PARLIAMENT ESTABLISHES CONFLICT OF INTEREST COMMISSION: The Croatian Parliament has appointed the members of Croatia's first Conflict of Interest Commission. This Commission was established as part of Croatia's National Action Plan to Combat Corruption, and if effective, would address a significant need in Croatia's efforts to create clear rules and procedures for avoiding potential conflicts of interest. The eleven member Commission consists of three government politicians, three opposition politicians, and five non-partisan appointees.