EUR/SCE DIRECTOR HYLAND DISCUSSES REGIONAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ZAGREB 000383

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/13/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL HR
SUBJECT: EUR/SCE DIRECTOR HYLAND DISCUSSES REGIONAL
COOPERATION DURING VISIT TO CROATIA

Classified By: PolOfficer Peter D'Amico, for reasons 1.4(b) & (d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: During his June 12 meetings in Zagreb,
EUR/SCE Director Jason Hyland discussed regional cooperation
with interlocutors from the Croatian government, the South
East Regional Cooperation Council, and the European
Commission. Presidential Advisor Loncar expressed concern
over negative trends in Bosnia and welcomed the Vice
President's visit there as well as his tough message to
Bosnian leaders. In a luncheon meeting, Neven Mikec, Chief
of Staff to FM Jandrokovic, told Hyland that the GoC believed
that Kosovo had to be on board for regional issues, but also
wanted to avoid isolating Belgrade. Both Biscevic and MFA
State Secretary Davor Bozinovic said that the EU should take
a more active role in the region. Hidajet (Hido) Biscevic,
Secretary General of the RCC, told Hyland on June 12 that
the Annual Meeting of the RCC and the South East Europe
Cooperation Process (SEECP) Summit that took place last week
in Moldova were difficult, but did not expect similar
problems with upcoming RCC meetings. Biscevic was hesitant
to confront the Government of Serbia on this since he
believed that Serbia was looking for a fight on Kosovo's
participation in the SEECP to score domestic political
points, especially since the allure of EU membership was
fading in the region. END SUMMARY.

PRESIDENT'S ADVISOR PRAISES VISIT OF VP


2. (C) EUR/SCE Director Jason Hyland visited Zagreb June
11-14. In a June 12 meeting, Budimir Loncar, Foreign Policy
Advisor to President Mesic welcomed greater U.S. engagement
in the region, as highlighted by the visit of Vice President
Biden. The U.S. role was particularly critical in Bosnia,
where Loncar expressed doubts about the ability of the EU and
High Representative Inzko to reverse the increasingly
negative internal political trends. Noting his personal
relationship with Serbian President Tadic, Loncar described
him as a forward looking leader, who wanted to move Serbia on
the path to Europe. However, Tadic had failed so far to face
the reality of Kosovo,s independence. Asked about Tadic,s
influence over Bosnian Serb leader Dodik, Loncar expressed
doubt that Tadic could bring pressure to bear on Dodik to
moderate his policies. Tadic, Loncar said, was no match for
a leader of Dodik,s toughness and unscrupulousness. On
Macedonia, Loncar warned about the increasing danger that
ethnic Albanian disaffection could lead to a threat to the
country's stability.

RCC SECRETARY GENERAL ON MEETING IN MOLDOVA AND REGIONAL
COOPERATION


3. (C) In a June 12 meeting with Hidajet (Hido) Biscevic,
Secretary General of the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC),
Biscevic acknowledged that the Annual Meeting of the RCC and
the South East Europe Cooperation Process (SEECP) Summit that
both took place last week in Moldova were tough, due to the
unwillingness of the GoM to allow Kosovar officials to enter
Moldova to participate in the meetings. Biscevic stated that
privately Moldovan officials told him they were afraid of
Moscow's reaction if representatives from Kosovo came to the
events. The GoM felt it had been delivered a warning two
days before the meetings when Transnistria decided to make
their flag the same as the Russian flag.


4. (C) Biscevic noted that with Turkey as the next Chairman
in Office of SEECP, similar problems with Kosovo's
participation in RCC events would not exist. Additionally,
Montenegro following Turkey as the Chairman in Office was a
good choice to attempt to avoid a repeat of what happened in
Moldova, since Podgorica has recognized Kosovo but also has
good relations with Serbia. Regarding the upcoming RCC
meeting in September in Sarajevo, Biscevic believed that the
practice of allowing Kosovo officials to use Kosovo travel
documents, with visas and entry stamps on separate papers,
should remain in place.


5. (C) Biscevic was pessimistic about the chances that Kosovo
would be able to participate in the SEECP once UNMIK faded
out, since Serbian President Tadic had publicly stated that
Belgrade would never allow this to happen and SEECEP operated
on a consensus basis. Biscevic was hesitant to confront the
GoS on this since he believed that Serbia was looking for a
fight on Kosovo's participation in the SEECP. Both Tadic and
Serbian Foreign Minister Jeremic would rather score easy
political points on Kosovo, because they felt there was not
much to gain from the EU process at the moment. Hyland noted
it was impossible to promote regional cooperation when all
the countries in the region are not able to participate.


6. (C) Biscevic felt that the EU was not doing enough to

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strengthen those who supported Euro-Atlantic integration in
the region. EU membership was so distant that it was not a
powerful enough draw, especially when Croatia and Macedonia
were being blocked by bilateral disputes. One sign of
Brussels's lack of vision for the region was the plan of the
European Commission to eliminate its one million euro
contribution to the budget of the RCC. The EC was currently
considering Biscevic's proposal to gradually reduce its
contribution to allow governments to increase their
contributions over time. While cautiously optimistic about
the role the Swedes would play in the region as EU president,
Biscevic noted that the EC had dumped cold water on the RCC's
and Sweden's plans to hold a major conference in December on
building infrastructure in the region. Biscevic believed
that a focus on development was the best way for countries in
the region to move beyond the current political stalemate,
however, it was unclear where the money for such major
infrastructure projects in the Southeastern Europe would come
from.

MFA ON BORDER DISPUTE WITH SLOVENIA AND REGION


7. (C) At lunch on June 12 with MFA State Secretary Davor
Bozinovic and MFA Chief of Staff Neven Mikec, Bozinovic also
argued that the EU needed to do more in the region. By
allowing bilateral issues, like the border dispute between
Slovenia and Croatia, to block the EU accession process
Brussels was sending a problematic message to the region.
Bozinovic noted that the GoC was trying to avoid making
provocative statements to keep people calm, but the longer
the dispute festered the more of a chance there was for some
sort of incendiary incident to take place in either country,
particularly during the summer tourist season. He also
expressed a continued willingness to address Slovenia,s
claims that the papers Croatia submitted to the EU as part of
the accession process contained documents prejudicial to the
border case. Bozinovic said that the documents could be
reviewed by EU lawyers and if they found any such documents
then Croatia would withdraw them. Croatia could also issue a
blanket statement that Slovenia,s acceptance of the Croatian
EU accession documents would not be used to prejudice the
eventual settlement of the border.


8. (C) Regarding Kosovo, Mikec told Hyland and the Ambassador
that the GoC believed that Kosovo had to be included in
regional events. Croatia wanted Kosovo to participate in
regional organizations, but was seeking a way to do this that
would not isolate Belgrade. Mikec believed that more
consultation on this issue among countries that played a role
in the region and that had recognized Kosovo's independence
might be useful. Hyland praised Croatia for its very
constructive and helpful policy toward Kosovo.

VIEW FROM EC DELEGATION TO ZAGREB ON ACCESSION PROCESS


9. (C) In a separate meeting on June 12, Martin Mayer,
Political Advisor for the Delegation of the European
Commission, told Hyland that even if there were not any
issues blocking Croatia's EU accession process it was
becoming increasing difficult for the Commission to finish
Croatia's accession process by the target of the end of 2009.
Mayer did note, however, that the frequently cited concern
that the end of the current Commission's mandate in late 2009
would impose serious delays was overblown. Even if there was
a change of EU Commissioner responsible for enlargement,
Mayer felt it would not impact the Commission's work with
Croatia, since the personnel on the technical level would
remain the same.
BRADTKE