Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09STOCKHOLM504
2009-08-12 11:42:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Stockholm
Cable title:  

SWEDEN'S PLAN TO MANAGE BORDER DISPUTES BETWEEN EU

Tags:  PREL MARR NATO KPKO KVIR EUN SW 
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VZCZCXRO0561
PP RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHNP RUEHROV RUEHSL RUEHSR
DE RUEHSM #0504/01 2241142
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 121142Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY STOCKHOLM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4617
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
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)

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