VZCZCXRO6236
PP RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHNP RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHPG #0112/01 0610636
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P 020636Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY PRAGUE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1164
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHBW/AMEMBASSY BELGRADE 0011
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 0237
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL 0107
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 0795
RUEHPOD/AMEMBASSY PODGORICA 0004
RUEHPS/AMEMBASSY PRISTINA 0057
RUEHVJ/AMEMBASSY SARAJEVO 0051
RUEHVB/AMEMBASSY ZAGREB 0318

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 PRAGUE 000112 
 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
EUR/ERA WLUCAS, EUR/CE FOR ATRATENSEK 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/26/2014 
TAGS: EUN EZ EG PGOV PREL AF PK NATO
SUBJECT: EUR PDAS RIES MEETINGS WITH CZECH OFFICIALS 
 
REF: A. CARNIE-TURNER E-MAIL DATED 2.26.09 
     ¶B. CARNIE-DYOKAS E-MAIL DATED 2.24.09 
     ¶C. PRAGUE 103 
     ¶D. STATE 15959 
     ¶E. STATE 15623 
     ¶F. STATE 14097 
 
Classified By: Deputy POLEC Counselor Martina Strong for reasons 1.4 (b 
) and (d). 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: On February 25 PDAS Marcie Ries met with 
Czech officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Deputy 
Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra's Department for European 
Policy Coordination. The Czechs welcomed our "consultative 
approach," particularly with respect to Afghanistan.  They 
also encouraged as much advance coordination as possible 
before the April U.S.-EU Summit and floated several ideas on 
possible topics for discussion, including climate 
change/energy, Afghanistan/Pakistan, the global financial 
crisis (and what we are doing together to address it, and the 
Middle East (Ref A).  Also of note were Czech comments on: 
the Western Balkans, Russia, PA President Abbas, and the 
Transatlantic Economic Council.  End Summary. 
 
---------- 
Afghanistan/Pakistan, NATO Ministerial and Summit 
---------- 
¶2. (C) Czech MFA Director General for non-European Affairs 
and Development Assistance Jakub Karfik noted that 
Afghanistan and Pakistan remain on the agenda of most 
upcoming EU meetings.  Commenting that Afghan President 
Karzai's hold on power appears fragile, MFA officials noted 
that Karzai on February 23 told a group of Ambassadors in 
Kabul that he feared his mandate would not hold beyond May 21 
and that he was considering holding the elections on April 
¶22.  According to Karfik, the European Commission has 
identified a team of officials to do an assessment of Afghan 
election preparation needs, and the team plans to visit 
Afghanistan the last week of March through the first week of 
April.  However, the European Commission timeline was based 
on the expectation that elections would be held August 20. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Karfik, as well as CFSP Director Vaclav Balek and 
MFA Deputy Director for Security Policy Petr Chalupecky all 
welcomed PDAS Ries' comments related to the current USG 
security policy review on Afghanistan.  Ries also expressed 
USG interest in hearing Czech insights so that by the April 
NATO summit the Alliance would be prepared to outline our 
joint strategy, with the resources to back up this strategy. 
Ries also cited the upcoming Transatlantic dinner, the NATO 
Ministerial, and the U.S.-EU Ministerial Troika the first 
week of March as excellent opportunities for substantive 
dialogue.  The Czechs welcomed this "consultative approach" 
and Chalupecky commented that the Czechs are putting together 
a paper for discussion at the March 27-28 Gymnich (EU FM's 
informal meeting) on ESDP civilian capabilities, with a case 
study of the EU's efforts in Afghanistan (Ref B).  In a 
separate conversation, MFA CFSP Director Vaclav Balek noted 
that one problem related to ESDP civilian capabilities is the 
absence of a standby capability; each time the EU wants to 
standup a mission, they have to recruit experts from scratch. 
 Chalupecky also commented that issues such as the lack of 
response from member states, too many caveats, no clear 
mandate have all hampered the effectiveness of EUPOL. 
Nonetheless, even if EUPOL were at full strength (400 
police), he questioned whether this would be sufficient to 
address the weaknesses of the Afghan National Police. 
 
¶4. (C) Opining that the situation on the ground in Pakistan 
may be more complicated even than Afghanistan, Karfik noted 
that the EU plans to hold a Ministerial Troika with Pakistan 
on March 13 in Prague.  In response to the query of PDAS Ries 
as to what the EU hopes to accomplish at this Ministerial, 
Karfik noted that so far the EU has not gone much beyond 
applauding the democratic election of the civilian government 
led by Zardari.  He noted that while the Pakistan government 
has commited to fighting terrorism, President Zardari is 
hamstrung by questions hanging over the sincerity of the 
support from the military and security services. He also 
commented that the ministerial agenda is fairly "routine" 
right now.  (Note: In a separate conversation on February 26, 
 
PRAGUE 00000112  002 OF 003 
 
 
British Embassy Political Counselor noted to emboff that an 
UK FCO visitor is coming to Prague next week to press the 
Czechs for a more substantive EU-Pakistan troika agenda.  End 
Note.) CFSP Director Balek also noted that the EU was 
contemplating a "double-hatted" (Afghanistan and Pakistan) EU 
Special Representative, but that they weren't close to naming 
an individual at the moment. 
 
---------- 
The Western Balkans - Kosovo, Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro 
---------- 
¶5. (SBU) Montenegro: MFA CFSP Director Balek acknowledged 
that the EU has been struggling "a lot" with Montenegro's 
application for EU accession.  While the Czechs want to have 
the European Commission start work on the review of 
Montenegro's application, they have been blocked by certain 
EU member states such as the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany 
(Ref B).  They believe that while procedurally they could 
move forward with a simple majority, they feel that moving 
forward may not make sense without unanimity in the long term. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Bosnia: With respect to the EUSR candidates to 
replace Miroslav Lajcak, Balek indicated they are currently 
in the "silent procedure."  Balek acknowledged that the EU is 
aware that it will be difficult to come to agreement to close 
the Office of the High Representative (OHR) at the upcoming 
Peace Implementation Council (PIC) scheduled for March, given 
USG concerns.   The EU hopes to close it soon, however, and 
Deputy EU Correspondent Magdalena Janesova pointed to the 
June PIC as the next most reasonable time frame to revisit 
the topic.  Ries made the point that we in the international 
community will have to be assertive if we want to see 
progress in Bosnia.  Ries also noted the unhelpful comments 
of Republika Srpska leader Milorad Dodik and the unresolved 
"legal procedure" related to embezzlement.  While unhelpful, 
Balek commented that the Czechs are more concerned about the 
handing out of passports in Croatia as potentially more 
destabilizing to the region. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Croatia: Balek acknowledged progress on Croatian 
accession remains stymied, particularly because of the border 
dispute with Slovenia.  He noted that he remains unsure 
whether the EU will be ready to accept Croatia by the summit 
(Note: He did not reference which particular summit. End 
Note).  A lack of enthusiasm for enlargement, particularly 
with older member states, has slowed progress on Croatian 
accession. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Serbia: On the issue of the Serbian Stabilization 
and Association Agreement, the Czechs noted the Dutch remain 
steadfast on the need for Serbian compliance with the ICTY 
before they will support any further movement on the SAA. 
They also noted that the EU is trying to remain engaged with 
the pro-European government in Serbia. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Kosovo: Balek commented that things are going "okay" 
although the EULEX mission is only likely to reach full 
operational capability around the end of March.  Balek also 
commented that the EU has noticed an improvement in 
coordination on the ground between ICR Feith and EULEX HOM de 
Kermabon and that Feith has the full backing of the EU. 
 
---------- 
March Gymnich Agenda 
---------- 
¶10. (SBU) Balek noted that the Balkans (particularly Kosovo) 
will be covered at the March GAERC (March 16-17) and Gymnich 
(March 27-28).  The other items on the Gymnich agenda will be 
civilian ESDP capabilities, the Middle East, Syria/Iran, and 
Belarus (within the context of the Eastern Partnership 
Initiative). 
 
---------- 
Middle East Issues 
---------- 
¶11. (C) MFA Director General for non-European Affairs and 
Development Assistance Jakub Karfik noted that Foreign 
Minister Schwarzenberg will attend and speak at the March 2 
Sharm al-Sheik conference on humanitarian assistance for 
Gaza.  He also noted that during Palestinian Authority 
President Abbas' visit on February 23, one item that the 
 
PRAGUE 00000112  003 OF 003 
 
 
Czechs found interesting was Abbas' private comments on 
Binyamin Netanyahu.  According to Karfik, President Abbas 
commented that he believes Netanyahu will be a good partner 
for the Palestinian Authority because he is pragmatic and 
reasonable. 
---------- 
Relations with Russia 
---------- 
¶12. (SBU) Noting that we are also conducting a review of our 
engagement with Russia, PDAS Ries noted that we are 
optimistic that there is room to advance the relationship on 
Counter-Terrorism cooperation, Afghanistan (transit for 
non-lethal equipment) and the START treaty, which expires in 
December 2009.  Ries also referenced that we continue to talk 
with the Kyrgyz Republic regarding Manas Air Base. 
Chalupecky opined that Manas is a "lost cause" as he believes 
Russia is "pulling their strings;" he also noted that he does 
not believe they will be helpful on Iran as Russian economic 
interests do not coincide with our deterrent priorities.  In 
response to PDAS Ries' question about whether the Czechs 
believe the current economic crisis has influenced Russian 
policy making, Chalupecky opined that he did not believe it 
had had much of an effect.  His perspective was that the 
priorities of Russian officials had remained the same, and 
cited Russian interest in regaining "spheres of influence" in 
border regions. As a final comment on Russia, Chalupecky told 
PDAS Ries that the Czechs would hate to be "sacrificed" with 
respect to missile defense for some nebulous hope of improved 
U.S. relations with Russia. 
 
¶13. (SBU) In a separate conversation, Balek noted that the EU 
has now agreed to a May 21-22 EU-Russia Summit in Habarovsk, 
Russia, which he will help staff.  Noting that the Medvedev 
security initiative has been raised at the OSCE, in addition 
to other fora, Balek indicated that it's time to clear the 
air and that there should be a genuine discussion with Russia 
on security issues.  He also referenced the gas crisis, which 
has been addressed by the EU, although he expressed his view 
that Ukraine and Russia perhaps colluded on this more than 
people thought.  With the Southern corridor, he thinks it 
will be tough to pull things together as Putin has made 
various regional trips and Balek anticipates many of these 
countries will be reluctant to jeopardize their relationship 
with Russia. 
 
---------- 
Czech Support for the TEC 
---------- 
¶14. (SBU) Karolina Kottova inquired about the Transatlantic 
Economic Council (TEC) and who would likely lead on behalf of 
the USG.  She urged high-level USG participation and stated 
that DPM Vondra and Commissioner Verheugen are committed to 
leading on behalf of the EU. Kottova also indicated the 
Czechs are interest in perhaps holding the Spring TEC 
somewhere between May 25-June 10 and that they would like 
this to make this more of a "strategic dialogue," and move 
away from specific - often contentious - issues.  With 
respect to possible topics for discussion, she suggested we 
might want to consider discussing the financial crisis and/or 
green technology at the TEC. 
 
¶15. (U) PDAS Ries cleared this cable. 
Thompson-Jones