(U) DEPUTY SECRETARY STEINBERG'S DECEMBER 3, 2009,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 USNATO 000580 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/04/2019 TAGS: OVIP STEINBERG JAMES PREL NATO PGOV MOPS SUBJECT: (U) DEPUTY SECRETARY STEINBERG'S DECEMBER 3, 2009, PARTICIPATION IN THE FOREIGN MINISTERIAL WORKING DINNER OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC COUNCIL ¶1. (U) Classified by: Amy Scanlon, D(S) Special Assistant, Department of State. Reason 1.4.(d) ¶2. (U) December 3, 2009; 8:00 p.m.; Brussels, Belgium. ¶3. (U) Participants: U.S. Deputy Secretary James Steinberg Ambassador Ivo Daalder A/S Phil Gordon, EUR Amy Scanlon, D(S) Special Assistant USNATO Political Officer Jeff Workman, Notetaker NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen Supreme Allied Commander, Admiral James Stavridis Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola, Chairman of the NATO Military Committee NATO Allies Albania: Illir Meta, Foreign Minister Belgium: Steven Vanackere, Foreign Minister Bulgaria: Milen Lyutskanov, Deputy Foreign Minister Canada: Lawrence Cannon, Foreign Minister Croatia: Gordan Jandrokovic, Foreign Minister Czech Republic: Jan Kohout, Foreign Minister Denmark: Per Poulsen-Hansen, Permanent Representative to NATO Estonia: Urmas Paet, Foreign Minister France: Pascale Andreani, Permanent Representative to NATO Germany: Guido Westerwelle, Foreign Minister Greece: Dimitrios Droutsas, Alternate Foreign Minister Hungary: Peter Balazs, Foreign Minister Iceland: Thorsteinn Ingolfsson, Permanent Representative to NATO Italy: Stefano Stefanini, Permanent Representative to NATO Latvia: Maris Riekstins, Foreign Minister Lithuania: Evaldas Ignatavicius, Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Luxembourg: Jean Asselborn, Foreign Minister Netherlands: Maxime Verhagen, Foreign Minister Norway: Jonas Gahr Stoere, Foreign Minister Poland: Radoslaw Sikorski, Foreign Minister Portugal: Luis Amado, Foreign Minister Romania: Sorin Ducaru, Permanent Representative to NATO Slovakia: Miroslav Lajcak, Foreign Minister Slovenia: Samuel Zbogar, Foreign Minister Spain: Carlos Miranda, Permanent Representative to NATO Turkey: Ahmet Davutoglu, Foreign Minister UK: David Miliband, Foreign Secretary Stewart Eldon, Permanent Representative to NATO ¶4. (C) SUMMARY. Deputy Secretary Steinberg, supported by the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia, said it was premature to grant a Membership Action Plan (MAP) to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH) until it made sufficient reforms but that the Alliance should deliver an encouraging message of support. Turkey and Norway led another group of Allies in arguing that NATO should invite BiH to join MAP immediately. NATO Secretary General (SYG) Rasmussen attempted to find consensus by proposing that NATO offer a conditional no or conditional yes, but Turkey remained insistent that NATO must offer a definitive yes to Bosnia. The SYG said he would introduce compromise language for Ministers to consider the following day. Allies expressed strong support for inviting Montenegro to join MAP, although Turkey did not indicate whether it would drop its implied linkage with MAP for BiH. END SUMMARY. -------------- Allies Disagree on MAP for BiH USNATO 00000580 002 OF 003 -------------- ¶5. (C) NATO Secretary General (SYG) Rasmussen opened discussion by saying that Ministers needed to weigh carefully the risks of not granting a Membership Action Plan (MAP) to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). He advised that, if Ministers decided not to grant MAP immediately, they should send an encouraging message to BiH. The SYG observed that, during his recent trip to BiH, political leaders across all three constituent peoples were united in supporting MAP for BiH and arguing that it would serve as an impetus to broader reforms, but were unable to articulate concretely how that would be so. ¶6. (C) Deputy Secretary Steinberg argued that it was too soon to grant MAP to BiH, saying doing so now would simply reinforce Bosnian political leaders' penchant for adopting irresponsible, nationalist positions while expecting the international community to solve their problems for them. He said the Alliance needed to give Bosnia a clear signal that we want it in NATO and that we may be able to take a positive decision on MAP as early as spring 2010, but we need to see evidence that Bosnian leaders are putting in place the necessary state structures and exercising responsibility and accountability. ¶7. (C) The UK, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium, and Czech Republic also said the time was not yet right to grant MAP. Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia questioned Bosnia's readiness for MAP, recalling that Ukraine and Georgia were better prepared candidates who the Alliance had chosen not to grant MAP. British Foreign Secretary Miliband offered that Ministers could affirm NATO's commitment to MAP for BiH when it completed the necessary reforms. Czech Foreign Minister Kohout said NATO should postpone granting MAP in order to give Bosnian political leaders a few months to demonstrate a willingness to advance reforms. ¶8. (C) Turkey and Norway led a group of Allies, including Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain, in arguing that Ministers should grant MAP to BiH immediately. Turkish FM Davutoglu was insistent that NATO must grant MAP because NATO had a special responsibility for Bosnia and because not doing so would be destabilizing for BiH and the broader region. He said there could be no constructive no. Slovenia added that not granting MAP now meant not granting it in the spring either because reforms would not go ahead before BiH elections in fall 2010. ¶9. (C) Norwegian FM Stoere argued that MAP was a process, not membership, and that granting it would give the Alliance greater leverage to encourage reform. FM Stoere, supported by Greece and Spain, conceded that if NATO could not find consensus on granting MAP, it should give a soft no with a clear time perspective. Luxembourg suggested that the SYG should convey such an outcome personally to the Bosnian leadership in order to be as encouraging as possible. Hungarian FM Balazs, supported by Iceland, Portugal, Romania, and Slovakia, said that, rather than giving a conditional no, the Ministers could give BiH a conditional yes. -------------- SYG Tries to Broker a Deal -------------- ¶10. (C) SYG Rasmussen attempted to broker a consensus by proposing communique text that would not grant MAP to BiH immediately but would signal the Alliance's intention to do so as early as April 2010 should BiH make sufficient progress on reforms. FM Davutoglu responded that this was not a positive message and Turkey needed a yes on MAP. UK PermRep Eldon said there would be no consensus on granting MAP now USNATO 00000580 003 OF 003 and suggested incorporating FM Miliband's language affirming NATO's commitment to grant MAP in the future. ¶11. (C) SYG Rasmussen, supported by Romania, then tabled a new text that would convey that Ministers had decided to invite BiH to join MAP but that the decision would not take effect until Bosnia demonstrated sufficient progress. Deputy Secretary Steinberg, supported by France, Germany, and The Netherlands, said the U.S. could not support taking a decision now on MAP but could perhaps work with the UK-proposed language. Norway indicated that it could work with the British proposal but not the SYG's new conditional yes idea. The SYG closed the discussion by saying he would introduce compromise language for Ministers to consider at the NAC session the following day. -------------- Strong Support for MAP for Montenegro -------------- ¶12. (C) The SYG said that, based on his recent trip to Podgorica, he believed Montenegro was ready for MAP. Germany, Italy, Spain, Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal, and Romania expressed strong support for granting MAP to Montenegro immediately. The SYG, supported by Belgium, Romania, and Spain, cautioned against establishing any linkage between Montenegro and BiH's MAP applications, saying Montenegro should be judged on its own merits as Heads of States and Governments pledged at the Strasbourg-Kehl Summit in April. Turkey did not assert the implied linkage it had maintained between Montenegro and BiH during communique negotiations, but did not disavow it either. -------------- Netherlands Makes Positive Move on ICTY -------------- ¶13. (C) Dutch FM Verhagen noted International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Chief Prosecutor Brammertz's positive report on Serbia's cooperation at the UN. He said that, in light of this report, his government no longer needed the Ministerial communique to underline this issue but that it should stress the need for Serbia to continue to cooperate with ICTY. DAALDER