ROMANIA ON KFOR MISSION: "WE AGREE WITH THE U.S.

C O N F I D E N T I A L BUCHAREST 000189 SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/RPM CHRIS DAVY AND EUR/CE AARON SCHEIBE E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/20/2019 TAGS: PREL MARR NATO KPKO KV RO SUBJECT: ROMANIA ON KFOR MISSION: "WE AGREE WITH THE U.S. POSITION" REF: STATE 26179 Classified By: CHARGE D'AFAIRES, a.i., Jeri Guthrie-Corn; Reasons 1.4(b ) and (d). ¶1. (C) POLOFF delivered reftel points to MFA Director for Security Policy Daniel Ionita, who affirmed that Romania agreed with the U.S. points. He said that there should be no premature or precipitous reshaping of KFOR's mission in the current security environment in Kosovo. Echoing remarks reported in reftel, Ionita declared, "we are not there yet!" Furthermore he agreed with the "milestone" indicators, adding that he would certainly brief senior GOR officials on the details of the U.S. position. He added that the way in which Spain informed Allies about the decision to withdraw from KFOR was "not the best way to do things." It would have been better for Spain to have given the NAC an opportunity to engage at least on process, he noted. Ionita also said that the Spanish decision was especially hard on Romania because of the close operational relationship among their respective KFOR units. He noted that Spain's withdrawal would create a requirement to fill in security gaps at a time when everyone is hurting financially. ¶2. (C) Comment: Ionita noted that Romania certainly supported calls for Allies to fulfill their commitments to the Kosovo Trust Fund, but he was clear that Romania would not be able to make a contribution. Furthermore, Ionita mentioned that Romania's legal position on Kosovo remains unchanged. Regarding Romania's concerns about how NATO characterizes Kosovo's governing structures without implying recognition of a state of Kosovo, Ionita said that Romania could probably accept any of the variants that make reference to "authorities (small "a" or large "A"). He was confident that the NAC would be able to reach agreement provided it did not put Kosovo on "equal footing" with state members. End comment. GUTHRIE-CORN