SLOVENIA EXPECTS WESTERN BALKANS TO DOMINATE

C O N F I D E N T I A L LJUBLJANA 000041 SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/ERA, EUR/CE E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/18/2019 TAGS: PREL EUN PGOV AFDB SU SI SUBJECT: SLOVENIA EXPECTS WESTERN BALKANS TO DOMINATE FEBRUARY 23-24 GAERC REF: FEB. 12 E-MAIL Classified By: ADCM G. Shelton, Reasons 1.4 (b,d) Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) ADCM delivered ref's points regarding the February 23-24 GAERC to EU Correspondent Darja Gruban on February 19. Gruban said she expected the restricted Foreign Ministers' lunch discussion on the Western Balkans would be long. In addition to the FMs discussing Afghanistan, the Political Directors would discuss it in a regional context to include Pakistan and India. Sudan will be on the agenda, and there will be conclusions, if the ICC issues the arrest warrant for Bashir. There will be conclusions on Sri Lanka and Iraq (elections). End Summary. Afghanistan -------------- ¶2. (C) Gruban indicated that Slovenia was considering sending extra military staff to Afghanistan and that Defense Minister Jelusic planned to discuss it with Secretary Gates during their February 19 meeting. She noted that Slovenia fully supported an EU-Pakistan Summit, which would likely occur toward the end of the Czech Presidency. Gaza -------------- ¶3. (C) Gruban took on board our points on Gaza. She commented that Foreign Minister Zbogar planned to attend the Cairo Conference. Sudan -------------- ¶4. (C) Gruban said Slovenia agreed with our points. She explained that the FMs would discuss Sudan and issue conclusions if the ICC issued an arrest warrant for President Bashir. She said that Slovenia fully supported the ICC and wanted an arrest warrant to be issued as soon as possible. The Western Balkans -------------- ¶5. (C) Gruban predicted that the Western Balkans would dominate the agenda and that the FMs' lunch discussion would be very long. The FMs planned to discuss the overall political situation in the Balkans, Serbia and ICTY, the future mandate of the EU's High Representative in Bosnia, and the application of Montenegro and other possible candidates. She agreed that the EU's credibility was at stake with EULEX, saying that the goal remained to have it assume final operational capability in the coming weeks. She stated that the EU would express its dissatisfaction that a Serbian government official, while in Kosovo, had protested EULEX's deployment to the north. ¶6. (C) Gruban expected that the debate on Bosnia would continue and that it remained highly unlikely that the PIC would be prepared in March to decide to close OHR this summer. She noted that the EU member-states continued to differ on whether to comply strictly with the 5 plus 2 requirements for Bosnia or to be more flexible. While Slovenia agreed with the 5 plus 2 requirement, it also thought that some sort of flexibility was necessary to have a pull effect. The FMs would also discuss the principles of the mandate for the EU's Special representative, to include local ownership and soft power initiatives. ¶7. (C) Gruban stressed that Slovenia's interests were very much in line with ours in the Western Balkans: it was in favor of enlargement and thought the EU needs to be positive in responding to other applications. She noted that visa liberalization was very important, especially for Macedonia and Bosnia. She worried that some countries were backing off from enlargement. Eastern Partnership Initiative -------------- ¶8. (C) Gruban noted that Slovenia supported the Eastern Partnership Initiative and the planned meeting with the 6 countries, including Belarus. She explained that Slovenia saw the EaP as an instrument to engage Belarus and push it to reform. On the EaP, Slovenia agreed that it should complement other EU initiatives. Slovenia was of the view that the EU should first reach political agreement on the initiative and then lower-level officials could discuss funding and other technicalities. FREDEN