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DE RUEHBW #1973/01 3401356
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 061356Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY BELGRADE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9851
INFO RUEHPS/USOFFICE PRISTINA IMMEDIATE 3608
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1264
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RXFEAA/JFC NAPLES IMMEDIATE
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE IMMEDIATE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BELGRADE 001973 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PLEASE PASS TOSEC 
STATE PASS ALSO TO U/S BURNS AND A/S FRIED 
 
E.O. 12958:N/A 
TAGS: MARR PREL NATO SR
SUBJECT: More Reaction from Democrats and NGOs on PfP 
 
REF: A)Belgrade 1956; B)Belgrade 1943 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1. (SBU) NATO's invitation for Serbia's membership in PfP 
continues to dominate local media. President Tadic gave 
credit to his advisors for the invitation, a statement to 
which FONMIN took offense. The EU, meanwhile, has said 
publicly that NATO's relaxation on conditionality will not 
change its firm position that Serbia increase its 
cooperation with the ICTY before reopening the SAA talks. 
Human rights organizations are split over the NATO 
invitation, with some of the more crusading organizations 
supporting ICTY Prosecutor del Ponte's criticism of the 
decision.  The small, pro-Western LDP has come out in favor 
of membership, but also warns of the responsibility that 
comes with PfP. The ball is now in Serbia's court, and we 
will continue to urge them to move quickly during this 
campaign season to initiate the PfP membership process. 
End Summary. 
 
 
LDP Welcomes PfP Invitation 
--------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) The small, pro-Western LDP released a statement on 
November 30 welcoming Serbia's membership in PfP, calling 
it great news for the country. However, the LDP 
acknowledged the great responsibility now bestowed on 
Serbia and the standards it must now achieve, including 
fulfilling obligations to ICTY, dealing with the Kosovo 
status issue, and aligning with European standards with 
regard to the judiciary and security forces.  The LDP said 
of this new opportunity, "We must not gamble that away." 
 
NGO's Support PfP 
----------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) After some initial rumblings of dismay, the NGO 
community largely welcomed NATO's invitation to Serbia to 
join PfP.  Six major humanitarian NG's in Serbia, the 
Center for Cultural Decontamintion, Belgrade Circle, the 
Committee of Lawyers for Human Rghts, the Youth 
Initiative, the Civic nitiative, and the Helsinki 
Committee for Human ights in Serbia, released a joint 
statemet in support of the decision.  Two other groups -- 
Women in Black and the Humanitarian Law Center -- while 
sympathetic to the statement, opted to support ICTY Chief 
Prosecutor Carla del Ponte's public criticism of NATO for 
relaxing its conditionality policy.  The six NGOs assessed 
that Serbia's inclusion into PfP is of crucial importance 
for the region's lasting stability and will help in the 
reform of the army and placing it under civilian control. 
These six NGOs also stated that they hope PfP will restore 
trust among nations in the Balkans and combating extreme 
nationalism still plaguing Serbia. The six NGOs asserted 
that collective regional security calls for resolving all 
open issues, including Kosovo and ICTY. 
 
Tadic and Draskovic Tangle Over Credit for PfP 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶5. (SBU) President Tadic continued his public comments in 
support of what the media has characterized as a last 
minute reversal in favor of engagement, praising his young 
advisors, Vuk Jeremic and Jovan Ratkovic, for bringing PfP 
to Serbia. The media is reporting widely A/S Fried's 
statements that Tadic's letter to President Bush--asking 
for Serbia's inclusion into PfP--was an important factor in 
favor of PfP membership for Serbia. FONMIN Draskovic and 
the Foreign Ministry issued a statement criticizing Tadic 
for giving credit to his two advisors and accusing the 
Presidency of thereby belittling the state and the 
institutions of Serbia and NATO-member countries. 
Draskovic, who has been spearheading the effort to get 
Serbia into PfP for the last couple of years, complained to 
the Ambassador that he thought the DS and Tadic were taking 
all the credit for PfP.  All bickering aside, most 
democratic forces have welcomed PfP as a rallying cry for 
moving Serbia forward into Euro-Atlantic institutions as 
well as in their campaign strategies.  There is still no 
 
BELGRADE 00001973  002 OF 002 
 
 
substantive response from the Radical (SRS) or Socialist 
(SPS) parties.  The PM's DSS is still clinging to its tepid 
welcoming of PfP and its interpretation that it advances 
Serbia's claim on Kosovo and that it proves the error of 
conditionality as a policy. 
 
EU Remains Committed to Conditionality 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) The EU remains firm in its position to force 
Serbia to comply fully with ICTY, according to press 
statements and initial Embassy contacts with Belgrade-based 
EU officials. Belgrade media covered statements by German 
Chancellor Merkel and EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn 
that the EU will not abandon its condition of full 
cooperation with the Hague Tribunal before resuming talks 
on SAA with Serbia. Commending Serbia for the progress made 
so far in moving closer to the west, Rehn promised that the 
EU is prepared to resume talks the moment Serbia fully 
cooperates with the Hague, i.e. arrests and extradites 
indicted war criminal Ratko Mladic to the Hague. Our EU 
contacts affirmed this, saying that member states remained 
concerned about Serbia's lack of commitment to the Hague 
and will continue to make clear that full cooperation is 
necessary for negotiations to resume. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) After the fanfare of the PFP announcement, NATO 
and the Serbian government are wasting no time moving from 
an invitation to membership for Serbia.  Serbian Ambassador 
to NATO Milinkovic announced that Serbia may sign the 
framework partnership agreement by the end of the year. 
Following the agreement, a presentation document will be 
delivered that will offer a program of cooperation between 
Serbia and NATO before an individual program of partnership 
between Serbia and NATO is developed.  Milinkovic expects 
Serbia to complete this process by mid-2007.  The Ministry 
of Defense has also issued invitations for the opening of a 
NATO Military Liaison Office on December 18. 
 
¶8. (SBU) There is little popular understanding in Serbia 
about the details of PfP membership, which is popularly 
considered as something positive but "not NATO."  For now, 
at least some of the democratic forces, despite bickering 
over who is responsible for the invitation will probably 
use PfP as a campaign message to the voters for the 
elections.  Hopefully, they can present NATO's invitation 
as a way of reinforcing the distinction between the hateful 
backward looking message of the Radicals, and the largely 
pro-Euro-Atlantic themes that democratic parties are 
pushing in their parliamentary campaigns. 
 
¶9. (SBU) We will continue to push the government to move 
forward quickly on membership and to use accession as a way 
to trumpet its commitment to Euro-Atlantic integration. 
The Serbian Ambassador to NATO expressed hope that Serbia 
could sign the Framework Document by the end of the year 
and submit a PD by mid-2007.  We will need to see whether 
the GoS is indeed willing to move that quickly during this 
campaign season.  In the meantime, the Ministry of Defense 
has also issued invitations for the opening of a NATO 
Military Liaison Office on December 18. 
 
POLT