CROATIA WILL GIVE TRANSLATION OF EU DOCUMENTS TO

C O N F I D E N T I A L ZAGREB 000774 SIPDIS PLEASE PASS TO EUR/SCE AND EUR/ERA E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/31/2019 TAGS: PGOV PREL HR SR SUBJECT: CROATIA WILL GIVE TRANSLATION OF EU DOCUMENTS TO OTHER COUNTRIES IN THE REGION AS GOODWILL GESTURE REF: A. ZAGREB 180 ¶B. ZAGREB 354 Classified By: Peter D'Amico, Pol Officer, for reasons 1.4 (b) & (d). (C) On December 30, the GoC announced that it had decided in an official session of the government that day to make available the Croatian translation of the EU's "acquis communautaire" to all other Southeastern European countries that wanted a copy. Former PM Ivo Sanader had reportedly told Serbian officials that Croatia would provide the translations to the GoS during a March 2009 visit to Belgrade (ref A),but the "right" moment for the gesture had not appeared. The GoC subsequently expanded the idea to providing the documents to all interested Southeastern European countries (ref B). These documents can help save governments in the region time and money in their EU accession process, since the GoC spent millions of Euro and significant staff time to translate the acquis. (Note: Due to the linguistic similarities Bosnia, Montenegro, and Serbia will get the greatest benefit from the translation; it may be of some use in Macedonia, but almost none for Albania or Kosovo. End Note.) Petar Mihatov, Chief of Staff for MFA State Secretary Davor Bozinovic, (whose Dec. 23 visit to meet President Tadic in Belgrade was a likely catalyst for the GoC's decision) told PolOff on December 31 that the GoC wanted to send a signal with its decision that Croatia remains committed to helping other countries in the region on their path to the EU. Mihatov said the exact timing and method for physically handing over the documents to the various governments that might request it had not been determined, but the GoC would be looking for good opportunities to arrange it. WALKER