SCENESETTER FOR EUR DAS JONES' BILATERAL MEETINGS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TIRANA 000275

SIPDIS

EUR/SCE FOR JERRY ISMAIL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/03/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KJUS ECON MARR AL
SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR EUR DAS JONES' BILATERAL MEETINGS
IN TIRANA MAY 7-8, 2009

Classified By: Ambassador John L. Withers for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (U) Note. This scenesetter deals with your bilateral
meetings with Albanian officials while in Tirana and does not
discuss your meetings with third-country foreign ministers or
with the Adriatic Charter conference, which we understand
will be handled by other posts and by EUR/SCE. End Note.


2. (SBU) Your visit to Tirana comes at a crucial time in
Albania's political cycle. Preparations for June 28 national
elections are in full swing. While the two major parties
have reached an agreement over the disputed distribution of
national identification cards, there is still plenty that
could go wrong before voting day. PM Berisha, seeking to
cash in as much political capital as possible before then,
last week submitted Albania's application for EU membership,
in spite of advice from many in the EU who urged him to wait.
Berisha will have to work hard to leave behind the ghosts
that haunt his administration. On May 11, the Supreme Court
will open its case against former Defense Minister and
Berisha's election coalition partner Fatmir Mediu, as well as
27 other officials involved in the Gerdec tragedy. Rumors
still abound concerning the involvement of Berisha's own
family members in the scandal.


3. (C) Berisha and his team will seek to use your visit to
demonstrate the strength of U.S.-Albanian ties and our
implied approval of Berisha's tenure as Prime Minister. We
will have to work hard to strike a delicate balance to
emphasize that our support for Albania and the progress it
has made over the last year reflects support for Albania's
people and institutions, not for one particular person or
party. You can do this in your meetings with heads of both
the majority and the opposition, as well as with Prosecutor
General Ina Rama, whoQaasQaQa4a.b and independence have
sqQ`QpQ`saQ b p(a ` b2`dst political attacks from Q`QQQQc6a2b,e.t t(a2 lart year. Overall, you shouQ` s4r$s3 4g a,dQQ
shddc the crucial importance tha4 4h% Qf)ted Stater and the
international communi4y place on the upcoming elections as a
test of Albania's democratic development and maturity. In
addition, both the government and opposition should hear from
you that we hold both sides responsible for working to bring
about a good election, and that their recent deal on the ID
cards was a step in the right direction.

ELECTIONS / ID'S - A DEAL REACHED AT LAST
--------------


4. (C) With less than two months remaining until the June 28
parliamentary elections, Albania's political class is
increasingly focused on election preparations and what
promises to be a hard fought campaign. Preparations have
gone quite slowly, hindered by a brand new electoral code and
a slow start to ID card issuances. Last week's deal on ID
cards appears to have removed IDs as the central bone of
contention regarding the election, but it will be a race to
the finish to produce ID cards for all voters who need them.
The decision to provide IDs to all passport-less voters for
only 200 lek (appx. 2 dollars) has removed the cost barrier
to applications, but with only 5 weeks left to apply for the
cards, the issue now is not only to convince people to apply
for the cards, but also the government,s capacity to
actually issue and deliver the IDs to potential voters. As
of last week, for example, less than 300,000 of the 750,000
applicants have received their cards.


5. (C) The GOA has challenged the OSCE's nomination of Audrey
Glover to head the ODIHR election observation mission, albeit
privately. The GOA contends that Glover's role as head of
ODIHR at the time of the harshly criticized the 1996 Albanian
presidential elections will, in the GOA's words, "reopen the
door to an ugly period in Albania's history," and be seen by
the opposition as a vote of no confidence in the current
government's ability to carry out a good election. Your
message to the GOA should be that Albania has no grounds on
which to object to Glover's appointment, and that any such
objection by the GOA risks setting a dangerous precedent.


6. (C) Other preparations are ongoing, such as the
installation of video cameras at polling stations and the
formation and training of election commissioners. By passing
an entirely new electoral code in December, the GOA has set
an ambitious goal for itself and the Central Election
Commission. However, the assessment of the OSCE and others
at this point is that the GOA and CEC are on track to make
most necessary election preparations in time for the
elections.

DEMILITARIZATION

TIRANA 00000275 002 OF 002


--------------


7. (SBU) Within the government, the euphoria of receiving
NATO membership is gradually being replaced by a realistic
sense of the responsibilities that accompany the privileges
of membership. One of the most urgent challenges facing
Albania remains its enormous stockpile of decaying
communist-era munitions (around 100,000 tons scattered
throughout the country). Ever since the March 2008 Gerdec
tragedy, progress has been two steps forward, one step back.
Our daily challenge has been to convince GOA officials that
the risk of another explosion like Gerdec is real and
imminent and that procrastination will not mitigate, but will
increase that risk.


8. (C) U.S. financial assistance to demil is currently
focused on the cleanup of Gerdec and on an industrial demil
line at a site called Polican. While U.S. contractors have
been ready to begin the line at Polican since last August,
the Albanians have repeatedly found reasons to delay
commencement of work at the site. Demil funding assistance
is scarce and PM/WRA has threatened to cancel assistance to
Polican if progress is not made in the near future. In a
phone call on May 1, Defense Minister Oketa promised PM DAS
Greg Delawie that Polican will start within a week, but you
will want to urge Oketa in your meeting with him to not allow
the election frenzy to slacken the pace of progress on demil
or to be used as an excuse for its delay. You should point
out that Oketa,s trip to Washington on May 12 will be a
perfect opportunity for him to announce resumption of demil
activities at both Polican and Mjekes (Albania,s other demil
facility).

HELICOPTERS - MAKING THE PITCH FOR SIKORSKY
--------------


9. (SBU) In your meetings with Oketa, Berisha, and Basha, you
should be prepared to make a brief pitch for Sikorsy's bid to
supply the Albanian military with a fleet of medium lift
helicopters. Sikorsky, offering its Blackhawk, is one of
three bidders and has U.S. advocacy rights. The other two
are Eurocopter and the Italian company Augusta Bell.
Following PM Berisha's trip to France last week, the press is
rife with rumors that Berisha and French President Sarkozy
cut some kind of back room deal that would give the tender to
Eurocopter in exchange for France,s support for Albania's EU
bid. Berisha and Oketa have been briefed directly by
Sikorsky on the Blackhawk proposal and know the details, but
a warning to them would be most appropriate now - Albania's
decision must be made on the basis of a fair, open, and
transparent evaluation of the tender, nothing more, nothing
less.

PROSECUTOR GENERAL INA RAMA
--------------


10. (C) Despite tremendous pressure from the Prime Minister,
pro-government media and the PM's political proxies, PG Ina
Rama has forged ahead with a number of high-profile
investigations and trials - including the Gerdec trial
(scheduled to begin on May 11) and the on again-off again
trial of FM Basha. You should underline unwavering U.S.
support for independent prosecutors and judges.


11. (C) However, there has been concern over the head of the
Prosecutor's Office in Durres - Arian Ndoja. Ndoja was the
subject of a criminal investigation for possible corrupt
activities due to large amounts of undeclared income. The
investigation was closed under dubious circumstances, and
Ndoja,s reputation has been compromised to say the least.
You should let Ina Rama know that Ndoja's continued presence
as head of the Durres Prosecutor's Office hinders our ability
to support a Durres Regional Joint Investigative Unit, a high
priority project for U.S. anti-corruption assistance.

WITHERS