(U) Secretary Clinton's December 10, 2009

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/10/2019
TAGS: OVIP CLINTON HILLARY PREL NATO CR
SUBJECT: (U) Secretary Clinton's December 10, 2009
Meeting with Croatian Foreign Minister Jandrokovic


1. (U) Classified by: EUR A/S Philip Gordon, Reason
1.4.(d)


2. (U) December 10, 2009; 10:30 a.m.; Washington.


3. (U) Participants:

U.S.
The Secretary
A/S Philip Gordon, EUR
A/S Philip Crowley, Public Affairs
Toby Bradley, NSC Director for NATO and Western European
Affairs
Joe Macmanus, Executive Assistant to the Secretary
Cathy Westley (Notetaker)

Croatia

Gordan Jandrokovic, Foreign Minister
Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, Ambassador to the U.S.
Mario Dragun, MFA Spokesman
Goran Stefanic, MFA Director
Betty Pavelich Sirois, MFA Director
Dario Mihelin, Embassy Acting DCM


4. (C/NF) SUMMARY. Croatian Foreign Minister
Jandrokovic strongly supports the strategy for
Afghanistan. He pledged to continue strong domestic
reform efforts with the aim of completing European Union
negotiations by mid-2010 and asked the Secretary for
help with Slovenia, the United Kingdom, and the
Netherlands regarding unblocking progress on specific EU
negotiation chapters. The Minister gave assurances of
continued positive engagement in the region,
particularly with Bosnia. The Secretary expressed
strong support for Croatia's EU aspirations, as well as
appreciation for Croatia's ISAF contributions, regional
engagement, and Prime Minister Kosor's increased anti-
corruption actions. She urged Jandrokovic to increase
ICTY cooperation and maintain Croatia's commitment to
regional stability. They also discussed possible
visits, progress with Croatia's qualifying for the visa
waiver program, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs?
offer to host an American as part of the Transatlantic
Diplomatic Fellowship program. END SUMMARY

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Croatia Committed to Afghanistan/ISAF
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5. (C/NF) Responding to Secretary Clinton's
appreciation for Croatia's commitment to Afghanistan and
its focus on training Afghan forces, Foreign Minister
Jandrokovic said Croatia strongly supports the
President's strategy. Croatia plans to strengthen its
commitment to ISAF by five percent to approximately 315
troops, but needs to hold off on a public announcement
until after Croatian presidential elections are
completed in January.

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EU Accession: Slovenia, ICTY, Reforms
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6. (C/NF) Thanking the Secretary for strong U.S.
support for Croatia's Euro-Atlantic aspirations,
Jandrokovic mentioned that Slovenia failed to lift its
hold on three EU negotiating chapters that were ready to
be opened this month. He asked if we could check with
Ljubljana because the delay means Croatia loses another
month after 10 months of a previous Slovenian blockade
due to their bilateral border dispute. The Secretary
said we would follow up.


7. (C/NF) On Croatia's cooperation with the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia (ICTY),Jandrokovic said the police task
force seeking documents needed for the ICTY trial of
three Croatian generals conducted massive raids this
week that turned up more than 10,000 documents, but it
remains to be seen if any are the documents sought by
the ICTY prosecutor. These efforts demonstrate

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Croatia's commitment to full cooperation with the ICTY
and are very important for both EU accession and the
rule of law in Croatia. Jandrokovic continued that he
had discussed the efforts with the British and Dutch
foreign ministers, but that their reservations on
opening the EU judiciary chapter were not lifted at the
EU General Affairs Council this week. The Secretary
said that a vigorous and transparent effort is the best
message to the British and Dutch, lauding recent actions
as an important step forward. Foreign Minister
Jandrokovic said Croatia is also eager to continue anti-
corruption, judicial, economic, agricultural and other
reforms, with the aim of completing EU negotiations by
mid-2010.

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Kosovo and Serbia
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8. (C/NF) The Secretary said Croatia's efforts on
Kosovo, including early recognition of independence and
supportive oral arguments at the International Court of
Justice this week, were very important and appreciated.
Jandrokovic noted Croatia's strong interest in regional
stability and Euro-Atlantic integration, but lamented
that Serbia's stance on Kosovo undermines these goals.
Still, he said he felt the Kosovo issue was the last big
political issue preventing better relations between
Croatia and Serbia. The countries already enjoy good
cooperation in the economic, judicial and law
enforcement fields, and hopefully, once Serbia is able
to get past its anger with Croatia over Kosovo, progress
can be made on the political front as well.

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Croatia Will Remain Engaged on Bosnia
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9. (C/NF) The Secretary urged sustained Croatian
engagement in support of the U.S.-EU "Butmir" effort to
promote reform in Bosnia and sought Jandrokovic's
assessment of the situation. The FM said the situation
in Bosnia is very difficult, but pledged Croatia's full
support for the Butmir process, noting that Zagreb had
urged the Bosnian Croats to focus on the benefits of
Bosnia's progress towards the EU and NATO even if they
were not 100% satisfied with all of the elements in the
proposed package. The FM stressed that Belgrade needs to
put more pressure on Republika Srpska Prime Minister
Dodik, whose rhetoric indicates he does not support
Bosnia as a state, but it is not clear how much
influence Serbia really has over Dodik. Jandrokovic
assessed prospects for success were low, but that the
best chance required the international community to work
together.


10. (C/NF) The Foreign Minister lamented Bosnia's
exclusion from the EU's recent visa liberalization
decisions and argued that NATO's decision not to invite
Bosnia into the Membership Action Plan (MAP) gave a
victory to those in Bosnia like Dodik who are unhelpful.
A/S Gordon made clear that the United States will
support Bosnia's MAP application once it makes required
reforms, noting that the positive language in the
December 4 NATO Ministers? statement is intended to be
encouraging.

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Anti-Corruption/Economic Reform and Visits
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11. (C) The Secretary applauded the efforts of Prime
Minister Kosor and the government on fighting
corruption, stating that vigorous actions can produce
results. Economic reform is also important and welcome,
she added. A fair playing field is vital to improving
the investment climate. Jandrokovic said Kosor has
surprised the Croatian public with her success and
willingness to take on tough challenges. Extending an
invitation from the Prime Minister to visit Croatia, the
Secretary responded that she would be pleased to go.
The Foreign Minister asked whether a meeting with PM
Kosor and President Obama would be possible soon, noting
that recognizing her reform efforts would send a
powerful signal to the region. The Secretary said it
would certainly be considered.


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Visa Waiver Program (VWP)
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12. (C) The Foreign Minister said Croatia is very close
to reaching the visa refusal rate needed for
consideration for VWP at 4-5%. The Secretary responded
that the United States would like to help Croatia get
under 3% and would continue bilateral security
cooperation efforts.

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Transatlantic Diplomatic Fellowship
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13. (SBU) Minister Jandrokovic repeated the offer first
made by his Deputy, Davor Bozinovic, to invite an
American diplomat to serve in the Croatian Ministry of
Foreign Affairs. The Secretary said she thought it
sounded like an excellent idea and pledged to follow up.
CLINTON