GREECE ON VOTING FOR KOSOVO'S WORLD BANK MEMBERSHIP --

UNCLAS ATHENS 000925 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON EFIN KV PREL GR SUBJECT: GREECE ON VOTING FOR KOSOVO'S WORLD BANK MEMBERSHIP -- RESPONSE TO FOLLOW-UP DEMARCHE REF: 09 STATE 54944; A. A) STATE 43681/43679 ¶1. (U) On June 1, PolCouns delivered reftel points to Ms. Agnostopoulou, Counselor, A3 Directorate for the Balkans, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Agnostopoulou stated that, as with the vote on Kosovo's IMF membership, the MFA has instructed Greece's World Bank Governor (the Governor of Greece's central bank, the Bank of Greece, George Provopoulos) to vote "no" in writing on the issue of Kosovo's World Bank membership by the June 3 deadline. She indicated that while Greece opposed Kosovo's membership in the multilateral financial institutions (based upon Greece's policy of not recognizing Kosovo's independent status),the government did not seek to block a quorum. She also indicated that, ultimately, it is up to Governor Provopoulos to vote as he sees fit. ¶2. (U) A/EconCouns followed up with Governor Provopuolos of the Bank of Greece; however, his office has not been able to confirm how and whether he has yet voted. Post will continue to follow-up and will pass additional information via email to the appropriate contacts in the Department and at Treasury. SPECKHARD