PM KOSOR URGES BOSNIAN CROAT LEADERS TO SUPPORT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ZAGREB 000653

SIPDIS

PLEASE PASS TO EUR/SCE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/04/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV HR BK
SUBJECT: PM KOSOR URGES BOSNIAN CROAT LEADERS TO SUPPORT
BUTMIR PROCESS DURING BOSNIA TRIP

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


1. (C) SUMMARY. PM Kosor made an official one day visit to
Sarajevo on November 3 and during her meetings with HDZ-1990
Party President Bozo Ljubic and HDZ-BiH Party President
Dragan Covic the GoC urged them to support the Butmir
process. Ljubic said that he had proposals for changes to
the House of Peoples, the election of presidency members, the
powers of the national representatives on the Constitutional
Court, and replicating the structure of the Council of
Ministers within the Federation. The GoC noted to Ljubic
that the first two issues he raised were being addressed now,
and that if the Butmir process failed there was no chance
that any of his four concerns would ever be addressed in the
future. Covic's main concern was that the Constitution
needed to be changed to make reference to there being three
constituent peoples in BiH. The GoC's message to both men
was "if you want us on your side, you need to support the
Butmir process." After the visit, GoC officials told post
that there seemed little chance that Covic and Ljubic would
work together. Kosor's meeting with the Chairman of the
Council of Ministers, Nikola Spiric, led to an agreement to
meet again at the end of the month to work on the outstanding
border issues between the two countries. END SUMMARY.

PM Kosor Goes to Sarajevo


2. (C) PM Kosor made an official one day visit to Sarajevo on
November 3. Davor Stier, the PM's foreign policy advisor,
gave post a read-out of her meetings. He said the trip had
been a productive one. Kosor wanted her first visit in the
region to be to BiH and to Sarajevo in particular. Stier
said the trip allowed the GoC to reaffirm to key
interlocutors its policy toward BiH, which is support for a
single BiH with three constituent peoples that has a
Euro-Atlantic perspective.

Meeting with Ljubic


3. (C) Stier reported that Kosor told HDZ-1990 Party
President Bozo Ljubic that if he wanted Zagreb on his side he
needed to be supportive of the Butmir process. The GoC
believed that there had been progress made in the process and
emphasized that point in the discussion. Stier said that
Ljubic had raised four main issues on the constitutional
reform process. First, Ljubic said that he appreciated the
changes that had been made during the Butmir process to
address Bosnian Croat concerns about the House of Peoples.
Second, Ljubic brought up the issue of setbacks on the
election of presidency members. Ljubic noted that he had
raised this topic in his meetings with USG officials, who had
replied that the U.S. and EU experts were looking to address
the Croat concerns on this issue. Ljubic's third concern was
about the problems with entity voting in the House of
Representatives. He said that the Bosniak and Serbian
parties had two ways to protect their votes, first through
entity voting and second through the Vital National Interest
veto in the House of Peoples. Ljubic argued the House of
Peoples option was not available to the Croats, because they
could be outvoted and overruled by the Constitutional Court.
He sought a mechanism to better defend the interests of the
Bosnian Croats. His proposal was to make it so that if the
ethnic Croat judges in the Constitutional Court agreed that a
decision related to protection of a vital national interest,
then the Croatian position could not be overruled. Finally,
Ljubic argued that the decision making process for the
Council of Ministers, which includes mechanisms to protect
ethnic interests, should be replicated within the Federation.



4. (C) The GoC said to Ljubic that the first two issues he
raised were being addressed now, and that the door was open
for the other two to be dealt with later. The GoC shared
some of the concerns, such as regards entity voting, but
stressed that not all issues could be solved now. The GoC
urged Ljubic to back the Butmir process, because if it failed
there would be no chance to address his four concerns later.
Stier saw progress in Ljubic's position since he was
constructively engaging with four defined points that were
not outrageous demands.

Discussion with Covic


5. (C) Stier said that the GoC repeated its message to
HDZ-BiH Party President Dragan Covic that Croatia supported
the EU-U.S. effort and that Covic needed to cooperate with
it. Covic noted that the Constitution needed to be changed
to make reference to there being three constituent peoples in
BiH. Stier noted that the GoC took a more general approach
in the meeting with Covic since they had not had as much

ZAGREB 00000653 002 OF 002


contact with him as they had with Ljubic. The press reported
that Covic publicly called for the GoC and the Sabor to take
a formal position regarding the latest proposals for
constitutional reform in BiH after the meeting with Kosor.

Covic and Ljubic Unlikely to Present United Front


6. (C) The GoC also urged Covic and Ljubic to cooperate with
each other and harmonize their positions. However, Stier did
not hold out much hope that this would happen since the two
leaders did not appear to be capable of working together.
Stier did note, however, that there seemed to be better
coordination between HDZ-BiH and HDZ-1990 at the lower levels
of the parties. Kosor told the press during her visit that
neither Croatia nor the HDZ could force HDZ-BiH and HDZ-1990
to merge, but that "it would be very good, if possible."

Positive Croatian Press Coverage of the Rest of the Trip


7. (SBU) The Croatian press reported that after the meeting
between Kosor and the Chairman of the Council of Ministers,
Nikola Spiric, both sides agreed to meet again at the end of
the month to work on the outstanding border issues between
the two countries. Additionally, Kosor stated that the GoC
was interested in signing a bilateral agreement that would
allow for the extradition of dual nationals. Kosor also met
with SDA leader Sulejman Tihic, High Rep Valentin Inzko,
Cardinal Vinko Plujic, and representatives of the Croatian
NGO Napredak during the one day visit to Sarajevo.


8. (U) EMBASSY Sarajevo has cleared this cable.
FOLEY