SLOVENIA LARGELY CONCURS ON NATO ENLARGEMENT GOALS

UNCLAS LJUBLJANA 000359 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/18/2019 TAGS: PREL NATO PARM MARR SI SUBJECT: SLOVENIA LARGELY CONCURS ON NATO ENLARGEMENT GOALS FOR THE DECEMBER FOREIGN MINISTERIAL REF: SECSTATE 116100 Classified By: Pol-Econ Chief Yuriy Fedkiw, reasons 1.4(b,d) ¶1. (C) Danilo Vidic, advisor in the MFA's NATO section, told emboff on November 13 that Slovenia concurred on most of the U.S. goals for the December NATO foreign ministerial (reftel). Vidic said Slovenia would support MAP for Montenegro, while also hoping that an invitation MAP would be forthcoming soon for Bosnia. From Slovenia's perspective, MAP for Bosnia could be a crucial step forward for regional stability; though noting that sooner would be better for MAP, Vidic acknowledged that Bosnia has a lot of work to do. Vidic emphasized that there should not be "linkage" in the application for different aspirant countries, saying that each country has different needs and is at a different point in the process. He also expressed optimism that there was progress being made on the name issue for Macedonia's application. FREDEN