SWEDEN'S PLAN TO MANAGE BORDER DISPUTES BETWEEN EU

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 STOCKHOLM 000504 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/12/2019 TAGS: PREL MARR NATO KPKO KVIR EUN SW SUBJECT: SWEDEN'S PLAN TO MANAGE BORDER DISPUTES BETWEEN EU AND NON-EU STATES REF: OSC EUP20090303022002 Classified By: PolCouns Marc Koehler, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Summary: Frustrated by the use of EU accession as a bargaining tool in border disputes, Sweden is working on a new mechanism to solve the problem, MFA Deputy Director General for Europe Lars Wahlund told PolCouns July 19. The Swedes would like to add a "Good Neighbor Policy" as a "pseudo acquis" chapter. This would be a pledge by each EU aspirant not to hold hostage another's EU application in order to settle a border dispute. The mechanism includes the European Commission cataloguing every border dispute for aspirant countries and detailing the actions the Commission would like to see each year. The Commission would then review the list annually for progress made by the aspirant countries. While noting that it was too late for this to apply to Slovenia's dispute with Croatia, Wahlund said that governments of Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia would soon be releasing a statement that "they were moving towards EU accession together and they pledged not to use the EU accession process to settle bilateral disputes." End Summary. Border Dispute Plans -------------- ¶2. (C) Daunted by the number of border disputes among Western Balkan countries, Sweden wishes to create a mechanism by which the Commission would catalogue all existing disputes to avoid disputes blocking membership for otherwise qualified applicants. Wahlund said disputes between non-EU members and EU members could be resolved using EU tools as part of the Stabilization and Association Process, with benchmarks for progress. The Commission should require movement on resolving border disputes to demonstrate that an EU aspirant enjoys "good neighborly relations." Sweden plans to intensify dialogue with the Commission in the pursuit of this. Under the Swedish proposal, the Commission would be responsible for annually evaluating progress on all border issues and prescribing the actions the aspiring members should take over the following year. ¶3. (C) Separately, EU Correspondent Magnus Scholdtz told PolOffs that Sweden has made a complete inventory of all border disputes in the Balkans and is working on a plan to treat them all through common regional principles. Putting such disputes into a wider context could lessen the intensity of bilateral friction and the pressure from domestic constituencies, he said. "Good Neighbor Policy" -------------- ¶4. (C) Although the European Commission is supposed to consider regional cooperation and "good neighborly relations" when negotiating association agreements, the Commission, Wahlund averred, too often looks just at issues pertaining to a single country and the relations it has bilateraly with the EU. Sweden thinks that the Commission should do more, including expanding the acquis to cover border disputes when negotiating with candidate member states. Sweden would also like to make a "Good Neighbor Policy." This would be a pledge by candidates not to hold hostage an EU application in order to settle a border dispute. There would be no formal acquis chapter, but instead a "pseudo aquis" chapter. Croatia and Its Neighbors -------------- ¶5. (C) Wahlund said that Sweden had persuaded the governments of Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia to release a statement that "they were moving towards EU accession together and they pledged not to use the EU accession process to settle bilateral disputes." Wahlund said it is too late to attempt to apply any new formal conditions on border disputes to Croatia's accession process, but perhaps such could be included in the final accession agreement. Croatia first must resolve its border dispute with EU member Slovenia, which has, to Sweden's dismay, "EU-lateralized8 a bilateral dispute. The Swedes are concerned that Slovenia's current objections would set a poor precedent for Croatia to use on the aspirant members with which it has border disputes, once itself has secured EU membership. Wahlund said Croatia should be asked to agree to refer all disputes to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Comment: -------------- ¶6. (C) Balkans experts within the MFA seem very keen to make changes to accession requirements, with an eye on potential STOCKHOLM 00000504 002 OF 002 problems associated with Croatia,s eventual entrance into the EU. However, it is unclear whether significant momentum has built up within the larger Swedish bureaucracy for pushing these changes at the EU level. We defer to USEU as to whether there is any momentum on this in Brussels. End Comment. SILVERMAN