ZAGREB WEEKLY ACTIVITY REPORT - NOVEMBER 20, 2008

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ZAGREB 000797

SIPDIS

FOR EUR/SCE, EUR/PPD, EUR/RPM AND EUR/ERA
OSD FOR POPOVICH

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/20/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV HR
SUBJECT: ZAGREB WEEKLY ACTIVITY REPORT - NOVEMBER 20, 2008

REF: ZAGREB 792

Classified By: Rick Holtzapple, A/DCM, Reasons 1.4 (B/D)


1. (C) POSSIBLE DELAY OF GoC PURCHASE OF ADVANCED FIGHTER
AIRCRAFT:
On November 17 the local press, citing unnamed government
sources, reported that the GoC would delay the
tender for the purchase of new fighter jets until 2010 at the
earliest for both political and economic
reasons. Contacts in the Croatian Air Force told DAO on
November 18 that they had not heard that the GoC
had reached an official decision. The Ministry of Defense's
Long Term Development Plan calls for Croatia
to replace its 12 soon-to-be post-lifecycle MiG-21 aircraft
by 2011. The GoC requested information
regarding various options for replacement fighters including
Mirage, MiG-29, Eurofighter, Gripen, and
F-16s both new and used. A Gripen representative at a press
conference on November 19 in Zagreb said he
did not want to comment on speculation that the GoC would not
buy any new aircraft, but emphasized the
favorable financial terms that his company could offer.
(PD'Amico)


2. (C) LAWYER INDICTED FOR MISSING WAR CRIMES EVIDENCE:
The Chief State Prosecutor, Mladen Bajic, told Poloff on
November 17 that the Municipal State Attorney's Office in
Zagreb is filing an indictment against attorney Marin
Ivanovic for destroying or hiding state archive documents.
Ivanovic is a member of the defense team of General Ante
Gotovina, currently on trial in The Hague. The indictment
comes in response to indications from ICTY Prosecutor
Brammertz (reftel) that the International Criminal Tribunal
for the former Yugoslavia is dissatisfied with Croatian
efforts to date to investigate the disappearance of documents
requested by ICTY Prosecutor in the Gotovina case. Bajic
said the indictment is the result of a Ministry of Justice
report alleging that Ivanovic received some of the documents
in question from unnamed former Croatian Army members and
subsequently destroyed or hid the materials. To date, there
has been no mention of the indictment in the Croatian press.
Bajic noted that Prime Minister Sanader is concerned the ICTY
officials will give a negative assessment of Croatia's
cooperation regarding the Gotovina case when they report to
the UN Security Council next month. According to Bajic,
Sanader has tasked the Ministers of Defense, Interior, and
Justice with resolving the issue of the missing documents as
quickly as possible. (CZimmer)


3. (U) LUKOIL ANNOUNCES MAJOR INCREASE IN INVESTMENT IN
CROATIA:
Lukoil has announced a threefold expansion in its annual
investment in Croatia, to top $200 million by 2011.
The Russian company reportedly wants to acquire 150 gas
stations in Croatia, which would make it the second
largest retailer of fuel in the country after the parastatal
INA company. Lukoil currently owns 14 gas
stations in Croatia. They also would like to explore the
possibility of building or renting an oil storage
facility on the Croatian coast. Lukoil currently possesses a
small terminal on the Danube near Vukovar.
To achieve this expansion, Lukoil is reportedly looking to
acquire one or more existing retailers including
Tifon, Croatia's second largest gas station chain, confirming
previous rumors that Lukoil was interested in
that subsidiary of Hungarian MOL. (DWestfall)


4. (SBU) ICJ TO HEAR CROATIA'S CASE UNDER THE GENOCIDE
CONVENTION:
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled on November 18
that it had jurisdiction to examine Croatia's
claim that Serbia violated its obligations under the Genocide
Convention during the 1990's fighting in
Croatia. In response to the ruling, Justice Minister Ivan
Simonovic told the press that: "The decision is
a great legal success." He also noted that "this is only the
first round...now the merit of the case is to
be decided." President Mesic, said that the ICJ's ruling had
a particular symbolism, coming as it did on the
the anniversary of the fall of Vukovar to Yugoslav forces in

1991. The Croatian Foreign Ministry, declined
to comment on Serbian FM Jeremic's statement that the GoS
would now file a countersuit with the ICJ against
Croatia for war crimes and ethnic cleansing committed against
the Serbian minority population during the war,
saying that these issues were now judicial matters. (Septel
with Embassy Belgrade on relations between

ZAGREB 00000797 002 OF 002


Serbia and Croatia in light of ICJ ruling to follow.)
(PD'Amico)


5. (U) WILL THE COALITION FALTER BASED ON AUSTERITY
MEASURES?:
On November 12, PM Sanader announced austerity measures to
help shore up Croatia's finances during the
ongoing economic crisis. Among other things, Sanader said
that Christmas bonuses would not be paid in the
public sector. This statement drew immediate reaction from
the Party of Pensioners (HSU),one of Sanader's
coalition partners. HSU President Silvano Hrelja said that
his party would leave the coalition if Christmas
bonuses (ranging from about 20 to 70 USD) are not paid to
retired citizens in 2008. Hrelja said this year's
bonus for pensioners was part of a coalition agreement and
therefore not negotiable. The HDZ and HSU will
likely seek a compromise on this issue. Even if these
negotiations fail, Sanader's coalition will retain
its ruling majority, as the HSU has only one seat in
Parliament. Nonetheless, the defection of the
pensioner party could hurt Sanader's HDZ with older voters in
next spring's local elections. (ZTomic)


6. (U) CROATIANS WELCOME VICTORY OF CROATIAN-AMERICAN MARK
BEGICH TO THE U.S. SENATE:
Croatian media have reported extensively on the victory of
Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich in the election for
U.S. Senator from Alaska, calling him "the first Croatian in
the Senate" (neglecting the fact that Ohio
Senator George Voinovich's family ties reach back to the
ethnic Serb community in Vojnic, Croatia). The
local papers report that Senator-elect Begich's grandfather
emigrated to the U.S. in 1911 from the small
town of Podlapaca in the rural Lika region. (RHoltzapple)


7. (U) FULBRIGHT SENIOR FELLOW LECTURES IN OSIJEK, ZADAR,
AND ZAGREB:
Prof. Virginia Walter, a professor of library science at
UCLA, recently concluded a one-month visit to Croatia as a
Fulbright Senior Fellow. During her stay she lectured at the
Library Departments at the University of Osijek and the
University of Zadar. She also addressed audiences at the
American Corners in Osijek, Zadar, and Zagreb, lecturing on
new trends in U.S. libraries. IRC Director Marica Bahlen
took Prof. Walter to visit the Karlovac Public Library and
the Karlovac youth Library, the only on of its kind in
Croatia. Dr. Walter's visit builds on recent visits to
Croatia by other U.S. librarians, including the Director of
the MIT Research Libraries who addressed university
conference in Zagreb and lectured at the University of Zadar,
and the Assistant Librarian of Old Bridge, New Jersey, an
expert on library services for the elderly, who was the
keynote speaker at the Conference for Public Libraries in
Pula and at another major library event in Zagreb. (MBahlen)
Bradtke