CROATIAN FOREIGN MINISTER EXPRESS CONCERNS OVER

C O N F I D E N T I A L ZAGREB 000245 SIPDIS PASS TO EUR DAS JONES & DAS GARBER E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/05/2019 TAGS: PREL HR SI EUC SUBJECT: CROATIAN FOREIGN MINISTER EXPRESS CONCERNS OVER POSSIBLE SLOVENE CHANGES TO REHN PROPOSAL ON BORDER DISPUTE REF: ZAGREB 244 Classified By: ROBERT A. BRADTKE, AMBASSADOR FOR REASONS 1.4 (b) and (d ) ¶1. (C) Foreign Minister Jandrokovic called me the afternoon of May 6 to confirm that Croatia had accepted the Rehn proposal on arbitration to resolve the Croatia-Slovenia border dispute (REFTEL). Jandrokovic stressed that Rehn had told both him and Slovene Foreign Minister Zbogar in presenting the proposal to them that it was "take it or leave it" and not open to negotiation. For that reason, Croatia had accepted it without change, even if there were parts of the proposal that Croatia would have wanted to change. If the Slovenes came back with changes, Jandrokovic said, then Croatia would have to reconsider its acceptance and would propose changes of its own. Jandrokovic expressed strong concern that reopening the proposal could make it impossible to bring the process to a conclusion. ¶2. (C) Comment. While I recognize the difficulties that an unconditional acceptance of the Rehn proposal may pose in Ljubljana, it is also clear to me that Slovene changes would feed Croatian insecurities about the Rehn process and lead to proposed changes on the Croatia side. The result would be not just a lost opportunity and a return to square one, but a slipping even further back into negative territory. BRADTKE