VZCZCXYZ0002
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHVJ #0666/01 0861650
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 271650Z MAR 06
FM AMEMBASSY SARAJEVO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3111
INFO RUEKJCS/JCS WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHDC PRIORITY
RUFOAOA/USNIC SARAJEVO PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SARAJEVO 000666 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EUR (FRIED AND DICARLO), D (SMITH), P (BAME), 
EUR/SCE (ENGLISH, SAINZ, MITCHELL, FOOKS), NSC FOR BRAUN, 
USNIC FOR WEBER AND GREGORIAN, OSD FOR FLORY 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/26/2016 
TAGS: PREL PGOV BK
SUBJECT: BOSNIA: PRESIDENCY AGREES ON CONSTITUTIONAL 
LANGUAGE, DELIVERS TO PARLIAMENT FOR PASSAGE 
 
Classified By: CHARGE D'AFFAIRES TINA S. KAIDANOW, REASONS 
1.4 (B) AND(D). 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY: After last-minute wrangling among BiH 
political party leaders, the BiH Tri-Presidency on March 25 
endorsed and forwarded to parliament a package of 
constitutional amendments that will substantially strengthen 
the Council of Ministers and Parliament and streamline the 
Presidency, creating a single president for the first time 
since the war's end.  Party leaders fought over wording of 
the amendments up to the last minute, with Republika Srpska 
(RS) leaders rejecting U.S. language that would have more 
sharply delineated the change wrought in the office of the 
President.  All agreed in the end to delay sending the human 
rights amendments to the Parliament to enable further input 
by the Venice Commission and the Department's Legal Advisor. 
At the insistence of Croat HDZ leader Covic, the party 
leaders will meet in a week to reconfirm their political 
commitment to the wording of the amendments.  While it is 
possible the HDZ may belatedly try to revise some of the 
language, this is also an attempt to recommit all sides to 
enforcing party discipline on the floor of the Parliament. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (C) In typical fashion, BiH political party leaders nearly 
missed their own now-or-never deadline for getting draft 
constitutional amendments to the Parliament by March 25, 
fighting among themselves over wording of the amendments 
during the final 24 hours.  This occurred despite exhaustive 
consultations with legal experts, brokered by the Embassy in 
the preceding 10 days, to produce amendments that accurately 
reflected political agreements on strengthening the Council 
of Ministers and the Parliament, streamlining the Presidency, 
and defining the division of responsibilities between the 
State and Entities. 
 
¶3. (C) Ambassador spent most of March 24 on the phone with 
SDA (Bosniak) leader Tihic, HDZ (Croat) leader Covic, and SDS 
(Serb) leader Cavic, pushing the three to resolve their 
lingering differences directly with each other.  Tihic in 
particular sought Ambassador's assistance; an early morning 
session of the Tri-Presidency that he had called to endorse 
the amendments on March 24 was derailed when SDS 
Tri-Presidency member Borislav Paravac refused to attend, 
abruptly informing Tihic that he had "no instructions" from 
the Banja Luka parties.  For reasons that remain unclear even 
now, it became evident on the morning of March 24 that none 
of the three RS party leaders had yet read the draft 
amendments package.  Initially informed that Covic would 
instruct Croat member of the Tri-Presidency Jovic to sign the 
package, Covic subsequently pulled his authorization when he 
learned that the SDS leader had faxed Tihic five pages of 
changes to the text.  Throughout the day and late into the 
night, Ambassador pressed Cavic (and through him, SNSD leader 
Dodik and PDP leader Ivanic) to winnow their changes down to 
technical ones, and to confer directly with Covic and Tihic 
to come to final agreement. 
 
¶4. (C) The three leaders finally confirmed a joint position 
just before midnight on March 24.  In so doing, they agreed 
to the RS parties' rejection of U.S.-proposed language on the 
Presidency which would have more sharply delineated in the 
Constitution the changes to the Presidency that will 
establish a single President with a 16-month term.  Despite 
the leaders' agreement, wrangling continued up until the 
moment of signature by the members of the Tri-Presidency on 
the morning of March 25, with Croat member Jovic (at HDZ 
leader Covic's request) insisting that the parties agree to 
meet in one week to reconfirm the parties' commitment to the 
wording of the amendments.  While it is possible the Croat 
parties may use that meeting to try to rework some of the 
language on issues of particular interest (Note: the Embassy 
used the legal experts' drafting sessions to tighten and 
restrict use of the Vital National Interest veto.  End 
Note.), Covic is also seeking to lock the leaders in to 
enforcing party discipline on the floor of the Parliament. 
 
¶5.  (C) COMMENT:  The last-minute wrangling of the parties 
March 24, though frustrating, was not particularly 
surprising.  Even at this late stage, the lack of trust among 
the parties and fear of adverse electoral consequences if 
they are seen to be giving up too much contribute to the 
tense atmosphere and insistence on hewing closely to the 
language of the political agreement.  Active involvement by 
the Embassy will be required to see the legislation smoothly 
through the 30-day parliamentary procedure required to amend 
the constitution.  Embassy plans extensive outreach to key 
parliamentarians, opinion leaders, academics and journalists 
in an effort to better educate the public about the proposed 
changes to the constitution.  The hard part is yet to come, 
and we expect the end game to be a nail-biter.  END COMMENT. 
 
MCELHANEY