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P 131621Z APR 07
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 001253 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL ECON EAID SR HR EUN MI RO BU GR BK MW YI TU
UNMIK 
SUBJECT: SERBIAN GOVERNMENT PULLS CANDIDATE FOR SECRETARY GENERAL OF 
STABILITY PACT SUCCESSOR ORGANIZATION 
 
Ref:  A) Zagreb 184     B) Brussels 00373 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  The transition of the Stability Pact (SP) 
regional cooperation agenda to regional ownership (refs) hit a bump 
with the April 11 Serbian withdrawal of the nomination of Goran 
Svilanovic, former Serbia-Montenegro Foreign Minister and Stability 
Pact Working Table I (Democracy) chairman, for Secretary General of 
the proposed Regional Cooperation Council.  The Serbian decision, 
which looks to be purely the result of internal Serbian politics, 
leaves Croatian Foreign Ministry State Secretary Hido Biscevic as 
the sole remaining candidate for the SG post, which will be decided 
when SEECP Prime Ministers meet in Zagreb on May 11.   With the SP 
transition's institutional working group previously achieving SEECP 
Foreign Ministers concurrence in a transparent nomination process, 
including a March 31 nomination deadline, there appears to be no 
room for the Serb intention to submit a new nomination in the next 
days.   In the meantime, Sarajevo and Belgrade remain in play for 
the site of the RCC secretariat, with most public support going thus 
far to Sarajevo.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Until the Serbian government decision, the Stability Pact 
transition to regional ownership and leadership was moving steadily 
and positively ahead.  Most of the administrative issues related to 
the process of nominating a Secretary General for the proposed 
Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) and selecting a location in the 
region for the RCC Secretariat had been resolved. The IWG and SEECP 
PolDirs are scheduled to meet again on April 24-25 in Zagreb to 
resolve the remaining issues, namely the designation of a deputy to 
the Secretary General (a major Greek political concern) and to set 
the operational timetable for putting the RCC into place by the 
February 2008 target date. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The Svilanovic nomination was difficult for the Serbian 
government, notwithstanding the recent elections and prolonged 
negotiations on the new government.  Svilanovic's established 
presence in the region, reinforced through his work since 2004 as 
the Stability Pact Chairman of Working Table I, made him a strong 
candidate to replace SP Special Coordinator Erhard Busek, a former 
Vice Chancellor of Austria, as the champion of the regional 
cooperation agenda in South East Europe.  However, Svilanssion offici note to the Croatian Embassy in Belgrade putting 
Svilanovic in play, much to the surprise of observers who had 
generally written off the possibility. 
 
¶5. (SBU) On April 11, the Croatian Foreign Ministry received the 
note from the Serbian Embassy in Zagreb informing of the 
government's decision to withdraw the nomination and promising to 
submit a new name within seven days.  For their part, the Croatian 
quickly passed on the note to the Stability Pact for wider 
circulation among SP partners, pointedly noting that the deadline 
for nominations had expired.  Speaking to SP Deputy Special 
Coordinator Mozur on April 11, Croatian SEECP coordinator Boris 
Grigic took a firm line against allowing a further nomination from 
Serbia (or other country) but indicated that the response to that 
effect would come once a further Serbian communication was 
forthcoming. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Initial donor reaction was generally marked by 
disappointment, both with regard to the loss of a strong and 
acceptable candidate and the implicit embarrassment brought to the 
region and the Stability Pact transition process by the lack of 
demonstrated regional leadership.  Norwegian SP national coordinator 
Gieslesen acknowledged that everyone came up short with the Serbian 
move but acknowledged that there was no option but to let the region 
sort out its leadership issues in creating the new Regional 
Cooperation Council.  There has been little commentary of 
significance from regional representatives thus far. 
 
BRUSSELS 00001253  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶7. (SBU) Comment:  The Serbia Government move to pull Svilanovic 
from consideration was not unexpected given the tentative nature of 
his nomination in the first place. At this juncture, the move seems 
to be fully an internal Serbian matter.   Still, the lack of strong 
interest among the region's senior politicians to lead the effort to 
create a long-term regional cooperation program is noticeable and 
reconfirms that home-grown efforts to build a strong regional 
identity will take some time and that domestic political 
consideration remain a concern.  For his part, Croatian State 
Secretary Biscevic has proven an effective chair in the role of 
 
SIPDIS 
SEECP CiO in the SP transition but his close ties to Croatian PM 
Sanader leave some to question his eventual independence on regional 
cooperation matters should he become RCC SG. 
 
¶8. (SBU) The RCC process calls for the SEECP Political directors to 
consult with the Stability Pact on the SG and secretariat location 
nominations through April 20 and to make a definite recommendation 
to SEECP FMs by April 30.  Final decisions will come when the SP 
Regional Table and SEECP FMs meet on May 10, and will be confirmed 
by PMs on May 11.   Dr. Busek and SP colleagues will be in touch 
with SP national coordinators in the coming days, and Busek will 
meet with EC Enlargement Commissioner Rehn on April 19 to assess the 
situation.  The issue of a new Serbian nomination should arise by 
early next week but is unlikely to gain acceptance in the SP 
response to the SEECP on behalf of the donors.  End Comment. 
 
MCKINLEY