This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BRUSSELS 000886 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/14/2016 
TAGS: PREL PHUM ETRD ZL EUN USEU BRUSSELS
SUBJECT: EU "GYMNICH" MEETING:  FUTURE OF W. BALKANS IS IN 
THE EU BUT ROAD WILL BE LONG 
 
Classified By: Political Officer Vincent Carver for reason 1.5 (b/d). 
 
 
THIS IS A JOINT USEU - EMBASSY VIENNA MESSAGE. 
 
SUMMARY 
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¶1.  (C) EU foreign ministers, in their informal "Gymnich" 
formation, met with their Balkan and Turkish counterparts in 
Salzburg March 11, issuing a joint press statement that 
reaffirmed the European perspective for the region but noted 
that the EU's absorption capacity has to be taken into 
account when EU leaders debate enlargement strategy at the 
June European Council.  Ministers expressed full support for 
Ahtisaari's efforts to find a negotiated solution on Kosovo's 
final status and noted that full cooperation with ICTY 
remains a condition for membership.  They supported a free 
trade area in the region building on the Central European 
Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA).  According to contacts, the 
French were particularly difficult in insisting on reference 
to the EU's absorption capacity.  Other issues reviewed at 
the Gymnich reported septels.  END SUMMARY 
 
EU, BALKAN AND TURKISH FMs ISSUE JOINT STATEMENT 
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¶2.  (U) EU foreign ministers met with their counterparts from 
the Western Balkans, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey March 11 
during the EU informal ministerial ("Gymnich") in Salzburg. 
All ministers agreed to a joint press statement (faxed to OPS 
Center March 11 and e-mailed to EUR/ERA March 13) that 
reaffirmed full support for the EU's Thessaloniki agenda 
(which, in 2003, stressed the European perspective for the 
region).  The statement also expressed support for the EU's 
Stabilization and Association Process for Balkan integration, 
and confirmed that the future of the Western Balkans lies in 
the EU.  The statement added that a debate on enlargement 
strategy is due in 2006 and noted that the EU's absorption 
capacity has to be taken into account. 
 
FULL COOPERATION WITH ICTY REMAINS A CONDITION 
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¶3.  (U) Ministers agreed that each country's progress toward 
EU membership continues to depend on individual merits in 
meeting Copenhagen criteria and Stabilization and Association 
requirements, including full cooperation with ICTY.  They 
also noted that Western Balkan countries had made 
considerable progress and must now increasingly focus on 
adopting and implementing European standards.  Participants 
agreed on the importance of good neighborly relations and on 
the need for finding mutually acceptable solutions to 
outstanding issues with neighboring countries. 
 
FULL SUPPORT FOR AHTISAARI 
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¶4.  (U) Ministers agreed that every effort should be made for 
a negotiated settlement on Kosovo, mutually acceptable to the 
parties, and expressed full support for Ahtisaari (who had 
briefed the ministers the morning of March 11). 
 
WELCOME COMMISSION'S MODEST PROPOSALS 
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¶5.  (U) Participants also welcomed the Commission's 
communication, "The Western Balkans on the road to the EU," 
and expressed their intention to implement its 
recommendations (visa facilitation, increased scholarships, 
increased trade preferences for the region). 
 
SUPPORT FOR REGIONAL FREE TRADE AGREEMENT 
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¶6.  (U) Ministers also encouraged "regional cooperation, 
including a free trade area building on the Central European 
Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA)."  Enlargement Commissioner Rehn 
said a regional Free Trade Agreement would boost trade and 
investment in the region.  He noted that Romania, as CEFTA's 
chair, had invited interested parties to Bucharest on April 6 
to discuss CEFTA's future. 
 
THEMES ECHOED BY PLASSNIK, SOLANA, AND REHN 
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¶7.  (U) In a joint press conference at the end of the 
Gymnich, Austrian FM Plassnik emphasized that, in reaffirming 
the region's European perspective, the "goal is membership 
and full integration of the region.  There is no change to 
the ultimate objective."  That said, Plassnik added that 
problems remain and must be addressed methodically.  The 
Gymnich discussions on the Western Balkans included an "open 
and frank debate," that was not free of "criticism and some 
frustration."  The countries of the region must progressively 
assume more responsibility for resolving their problems.  The 
road to membership will be "long and demanding," and only 
with an "open and frank dialogue" will the EU and the region 
achieve success.  Plassnik noted that both the EU and 
potential member states need to "do their homework," 
including on better explaining enlargement to European 
publics. 
 
¶8.  (U) EU High Rep Solana and Enlargement Commissioner Rehn 
offered more positive spins.  Solana focused on the 
tremendous progress in the region in the three years since 
the Thessaloniki Summit, with Croatia and Macedonia now 
candidate countries.  He said there is an increasing sense of 
a regional approach to issues.  Solana also voiced full 
support for Ahtisaari's efforts.  Rehn observed that prospect 
of EU membership was the major catalyst for reform, improved 
rule of law, and a better economic climate in the region. 
Rehn underscored that the EU has a big stake in Kosovo's 
future, "as it won't be the fifty-first state of the U.S. but 
will be part of the EU like the rest of the Balkans."  He 
stressed that the new Kosovar government should focus on 
implementing standards immediately, concluding that political 
stability in Kosovo is needed for a sustainable settlement. 
 
BUT FRENCH AND OTHERS PRESS ABSORPTION CAPACITY 
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¶9.  (U) French FM Douste-Blazy, in a separate press 
conference March 11, voiced support for Ahtisaari's efforts 
and stressed that negotiations must cover concrete measures 
on decentralization and protection of Serbian religious sites 
and cultural patrimony.  He noted that the EU is preparing 
assistance for the police and the rule of law in Kosovo. 
Douste-Blazy underscored that cooperation with ICTY from 
Serbia and others was fundamental:  "there is no question ... 
there is no European perspective" without full cooperation. 
While noting that EU FMs had underscored the European 
perspective for the region, he also stressed that enlargement 
must be discussed, including at the European Council in June, 
in the context of Europe's absorption capacity.  He reasoned 
that this is important in obtaining the support of EU 
citizens for enlargement, saying that one cannot "rush 
headlong into enlargement without taking into account the 
views of our people." 
 
¶10.  (C) An advisor to Rehn told us that the French, 
Belgians, Dutch and Austrians pushed to refer specifically to 
the EU's "absorption capacity" in the joint press statement. 
An Austrian contact noted the priority Vienna places on the 
Western Balkans and said that Vienna had not called for a 
reference to absorption capacity.  Given other member states' 
lobbying, however, as well as Austria's call last year for a 
reference to absorption capacity regarding Turkey, the 
Austrians agreed, our contact explained.  Some of the Balkan 
ministers reportedly attempted to rebuff this inclusion, but 
were pacified with the specific EU confirmation "that the 
future of the Western Balkans lies in the European Union." 
Our contact added that the French also insisted on further 
review of possible visa facilitation for select groups of 
travelers from the Western Balkans as well as an increase in 
the Schengen visa fee.  According to our contact, several 
Balkan delegations pointed out that this could mean that 
their citizens would pay more than Russians or Ukrainians for 
EU visas.  One senior Austrian diplomat quipped to us that it 
appeared that the U.S. and Germany appeared more interested 
in getting Serbia into the EU than did the French. 
 
¶11.  (C) A Council Secretariat official working on 
enlargement characterized the French position to us as 
pre-electoral posturing, adding that he expected Paris to 
continue to take tougher stands on enlargement until at least 
after the 2007 French national elections.  That said, he 
predicted that France would not cause difficulties for 
Romania and Bulgaria if the Commission recommends in May that 
they join the EU in 2007.  Given the overall climate on 
enlargement, however, accession negotiations will become 
increasingly painstaking, our contact noted, with the EU 
wanting to demonstrate that no country should take future 
membership for granted.  Croatian expectations that it might 
enter in 2009, he added, may be overly optimistic, 
particularly given the poor prospects of the constitutional 
treaty. 
 
COMMENT 
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¶12.  (C) The EU's "absorption capacity" is not new -- in 
fact, it is part of the Copenhagen criteria for enlargement 
adopted by the EU in 1993.  What is relatively new is the 
increased emphasis member states are placing on it when 
discussing candidates for accession.  The Austrians and the 
French, with reported support from others, pushed for such 
language in the run-up to the October 3, 2005 decision to 
begin formal accession negotiations with Turkey.  As part of 
the Copenhagen criteria, it can be interpreted in many 
different ways, which will allow any member state to question 
whether the EU would benefit from bringing in a potential 
member.  The Salzburg Gymnich demonstrated that officials -- 
and not only in France -- are paying greater heed (or, at a 
minimum, are trying to portray themselves as doing so) to the 
need to view enlargement with a more critical pair of eyes. 
The EU also needs to do a much better and pro-active job at 
"educating" European publics about the successes of 
enlargement, particularly regarding the 2004 wave.  Until 
that happens, we can expect further references to the EU's 
absorption capacity.  The Gymnich noted that the EU's door is 
wide open to the Western Balkans and that member states want 
the Western Balkan countries to pass through the door.  The 
threshold, however, likely will be higher as long as 
enlargement becomes increasingly a domestic electoral issue 
in member states. 
GRAY 
.