(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.

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Allies Disagree on MAP for BiH

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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Netherlands Makes Positive Move on ICTY
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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