Zagreb Daily Report - November 30, 2009

UNCLAS ZAGREB 000695 SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL ECON ICTY EUC HR SUBJECT: Zagreb Daily Report - November 30, 2009 ¶1. (U) New Corruption Scandal Erupts - Transport Minister Under Fire: Croatian authorities on November 26 arrested five executives suspected of involvement in shady dealings at the state-owned Croatian Highways company (HAC). The five are suspected of manipulating public tenders and overbilling for road projects. All suspects denied the accusations brought against them. Over the weekend, the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) requested a parliamentary vote of no confidence against Minister of Transport and Maritime Affairs Bozidar Kalmeta, demanding that he resign from his post due to a number of scandals in state-owned companies in his portfolio. Minister Kalmeta has denied any knowledge of the alleged corrupt activities. ¶2. (SBU) Croatia Closes Three More EU Accession Chapters: At a sub-ministerial level Intergovernmental Conference in Brussels on November 27, Croatia closed three new chapters in its EU negotiations, covering Financial Services, Energy, and Consumer and Health Protection. This brings the total of provisionally closed chapters to 15. Croatia has another 13 chapters currently open in negotiations, and just five remaining to be opened. Of the five yet to open, three (Environment; Fisheries; and Foreign, Security and Defense Policy) are awaiting Slovenian consent to open, while the other two (Judiciary and Fundamental Rights, and Competition Policy) are the most substantively challenging. The GoC hopes that the former three chapters could open and one or two more chapters be closed by the end of 2009. EU sources in Zagreb, however, report that Slovene representatives in the Council showed some reluctance to closure of at least one of the chapters on November 27, only giving in after pressure from other EU Member States. ¶3. (U) Ambassador Rapp Discusses Efforts to Locate Documents: Special Envoy for War Crimes Ambassador Stephen Rapp met with Prime Minister Kosor and other high Croatian officials on November 27 and discussed Croatia's latest efforts to search for the missing artillery documents sought by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). The Prime Minister pledged to continue the investigation and Croatia's cooperation with the ICTY. A more detailed report on the issue is being sent septel. ¶4. (U) Mesic to Visit Kosovo in January: President Mesic plans to visit Kosovo on January 7. Media note that Serbian President Tadic has allegedly put off a visit to Croatia three times this year, and speculated that Mesic's announcement of the visit to Kosovo indicates no Tadic visit will occur prior to the end of Mesic's final term in office in February. In recent weeks Mesic has been critical of Belgrade's policy towards BiH and Dodik, particularly how the return of convicted war criminal Biljana Plavsic was handled. ¶5. (U) Ambassador Foley Gives First Comprehensive Interview to Croatian Daily: On November 28th, Croatian daily newspaper, Novi List, published an interview with Ambassador Foley covering Croatian contributions to ISAF, the Arbitration agreement between Croatia and Slovenia, cooperation with the ICTY, anti-corruption efforts and shipyard privatization. ¶6. (U) Embassy Zagreb Supports Green Building Council: The Green Building Council of Croatia (GBC) launched its first symposium this week at the Zagreb Architectural Society with the help of Embassy Zagreb's public diplomacy and management sections, including a small supporting grant. Embassy Zagreb is a co-founder of the nascent GBC (http://www.gbccroatia.org/english/index.html ),which works to promote environmentally beneficial and sustainable building practices in Croatia. WALKER