ALBANIA ACTIVELY PURSUING COMPLETION OF NATO

C O N F I D E N T I A L TIRANA 000024 SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/SCE:JERRY ISMAIL AND EUR/RPM:DMITRY VOVCHUK E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/13/2019 TAGS: PREL PGOV NATO AL SUBJECT: ALBANIA ACTIVELY PURSUING COMPLETION OF NATO RATIFICATIONS Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Stephen Cristina for reasons 1.4 (b) a nd (d) ¶1. (C) Summary. The Government of Albania has begun domestic ratification of their NATO accession and expects to have it completed by mid-February. They will then wait for the official invitation to deposit their ratification in Washington. The Albanian MFA has been actively following progress in other countries and has remained in regular contact with Allies to urge quick ratification. According to the GOA's count (listed below),six allies have deposited their ratifications, eleven have ratified but not yet deposited, and nine have not yet officially completed ratification. Of those, MFA NATO Director Agim Fagu is most concerned about Greece, France and Belgium. End Summary. ALBANIA RATIFICATION -------------- ¶2. (U) In early December 2008, the Albanian MFA completed the draft ratification of NATO protocols and sent them to the Ministries of Defense, Justice and Finance for approval. To date, the MoD has approved and signed the protocols. The Ministries of Finance and Justice have not signed the protocols yet, but have informed the MFA that their approvals are almost complete. After these approvals are received, the MFA will submit the ratification documents to Parliament for approval. There is broad support across political parties for NATO membership, so ratification in Parliament is expected to take only a few days. Fagu expects the entire process to be completed by the middle of February, after which the GOA will wait for an official invitation from the NATO SYG to deposit their ratification. ALLIES' RATIFICATION -------------- ¶3. (C) The MFA has been closely following ratification in other countries as well and has remained in regular contact with Allies to urge passage. According to Albania's count, as of January 13, the following have deposited ratifications: - Hungary - Latvia - USA - Lithuania - Poland - Bulgaria The following countries have completed their ratifications, but have not yet deposited them: - Romania - Slovakia - Turkey - Norway - Estonia - Denmark - Czech Republic - Spain - Germany - Italy - UK All others have not completed ratification yet. Of those states, Albania has the following information: - Portugal: Fagu claimed that Portugal has completed ratification, but is waiting for DefMin's Oketa's visit to Lisbon later this month to publicly announce this. - Slovenia: Has informed the Albanian MFA that its parliament will complete ratification January 26. - Netherlands: The government has sent the ratification protocols to Parliament, and the lower body of parliament - the House of Representatives - approved on December 12, 2008. The upper house - the Senate - is expected to approve ratification in mid-January. - Canada: Ratification does not have to pass through the Canadian parliament. PM Harper has passed the protocols to parliament for 21 days of debate, but only as a gesture of goodwill. According to the Fagu, the GOC expects to finish ratification by the end of January. - Iceland: Ratification is on the agenda of Parliament's opening session Janury 20, 2009. The parliamentary process is expected to take two weeks and be completed at the beginning of February. - Luxembourg: The Government has approved the ratification protocols and sent them to Parliament. No further information is available. - Belgium: GOB told the Albanian MFA that from beginning to end, the ratification process takes about five months. The Belgian MFA has passed the protocols to the Ministry of Finance for approval. After MOF approval, the protocols will be sent to the State Council, and then to Parliament. - France: The Council of Ministers is still reviewing the protocols. The Albanian MFA has no further information. - Greece: All appropriate ministries have approved the protocols and they have been sent to the Secretary General of the Government who is preparing a draft bill for Parliament. ALBANIAN CONCERNS -------------- ¶4. (C) Fagu related that the GOA is most concerned about Greece. First and most importantly, the current political instability there may sideline progress on NATO ratification and delay it past the April NATO Summit. Second, Greece has historically used such negotiations to squeeze more concessions out of Albania (such as on cemeteries for Greek soldiers in Albania and demarcation of bilateral maritime borders). However, Fagu believes that after obstructing Macedonia's NATO accession last year, Greece will not want to risk more negative press on smaller issues with Albania (NOTE: Greece and Albania have reached agreement on the cemetery issue, largely making this a non-issue in terms of NATO ratification. However, the border demarcation issue remains outstanding. END NOTE). ¶5. (C) Fagu stated that the GOA is also concerned about the slow progress of France and Belgium's ratification. Although Fagu believes the delays are merely bureaucratic, the Albanian MFA has not received adequate information, especially from France. CRISTINA