ZAGREB DAILY ACTIVITY REPORT: JANUARY 21, 2010

UNCLAS ZAGREB 000045 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV HR SUBJECT: ZAGREB DAILY ACTIVITY REPORT: JANUARY 21, 2010 ¶1. (U) PRESIDENT'S OFFICE ISSUE STATEMENT CLARIFYING MESIC'S RECENT COMMENTS ON BiH: Mesic's office released a statement on January 21 responding to "certain nervous and unfounded reactions" to this week's comments by Mesic that Croatia would be ready to respond militarily if Republika Srpska moved to secede from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The January 21 statement said that Mesic has been speaking only in the conditional, and that his comments should be understood only as "a radically formulated warning to the world not to turn a blind eye" to Dodik's policies in the RS. The statement went on to say that the disintegration of BiH "would be absolutely unacceptable for Croatia" but that the President is aware that only the Croatian Parliament can decide to deploy the Croatian military. ¶2. (U) FM JANDROKOVIC MEETS WITH NEW SERBIAN AMBASSADOR; TADIC WILL NOT ATTEND CROATIAN PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION: The MFA reported on January 20 that FM Jandrokovic met with the new Serbian Ambassador to Croatia Stanimir Vukicevic in Zagreb on Wednesday. Both sides claimed that relations between Croatia and Serbia were better than they were perceived in public and the FM noted that the GoC would give to Serbia and other interested Southeast European countries translated copies of the EU's "acquis communautaire" documents. The Croatian press also reported that Serbian President Tadic will not come to President-Elect Ivo Josipovic's inauguration as President Sejdiu of Kosovo has now confirmed his plan to attend. More details to follow on bilateral relations between Croatia and Serbia. ¶3. (U) SLOVENIAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT BEGINS DELIBERATIONS ON ARBITRATION AGREEMENT WITH CROATIA: Croatian media report that Slovenia's Constitutional Court will begin deliberations January 21 to determine whether specific provisions of the Croatia-Slovenia Arbitration Agreement on their border dispute are constitutional. The reports speculate that these deliberations will take weeks, or even months, to conclude. On January 20, the Croatian NGO "Sea is Land" claimed that they had gathered just over 200,000 signatures (or less than half the number required) on their petition to force a referendum on the Agreement. Despite this failure, the NGO said it would ask the Croatian Constitutional Court to rule on the constitutionality of the document. GoC contacts consider this appeal very unlikely to succeed. ¶4. (U) "NO UNTOUCHABLES IN WAR ON CORRUPTION", SAY CROATIAN JUSTICE AND INTERIOR MINISTERS: Croatian Minister of Justice Ivan Simonovic discussed recent accomplishments in the GoC's "all-out war" on corruption and organized crime, during a January 20 radio interview. Simonovic stressed that on the political level both PM Jadranka Kosor and President-Elect Ivo Josipovic had identified corruption as their top priority. Croatia's Minister of the Interior, Tomislav Karamarko, and the national Police Chief, Oliver Grbic, in a separate press conference, warned that there are no untouchables in the corruption crackdown. Karamarko said he would not hesitate to investigate anyone in the country who was suspected of criminal activities. Grbic also cited recent police investigations of corruption allegations against several CEOs and management officials of State Owned Enterprises (SOEs),which have led to criminal charges. ¶5. (U) THIRD CROATIAN CONTINGENT SENT TO KOSOVO: The MoD reported on January 20 that the third Croatian contingent, comprised of 20 members of the Croatian Armed Forces, as well as two Mi-171-Sh transport helicopters, was sent to Kosovo to participate in KFOR for a four month rotation. FOLEY