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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PRISTINA 000707 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/SCE, EUR/ERA, IO/UNP 
NSC FOR BRAUN 
USUN FOR DREW SCHUFLETOWSKI 
EUR/ACE FOR DMAYHEW 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/19/2017 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM UNMIK KV
SUBJECT: KOSOVO: TRANSITION PLANNING MOVING AHEAD 
 
REF: PRISTINA 643 
 
Classified By: COM Tina Kaidanow for reason 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  In the first Strategic Transition Group 
meeting since the August recess, SRSG Ruecker on September 20 
urged a renewed focus on the transition process and 
reaffirmed UNMIK's support for the Ahtisaari plan as the 
blueprint for moving ahead on transition implementation. 
Progress reports were given on the efforts of the major 
transition working groups:  Governance, Civil Administration, 
Security, Constitution, Economy, Legal Framework and 
Legislative Matters, all of which indicated that work 
continues steadily.  Some issues remain to be resolved, 
including "prudent planning" on the KPC-KSF transition.  COM 
emphasized to PISG representatives the need to focus on 
minority rights as the most visible and important part of 
Ahtisaari implementation, urging in particular swift 
government action to ensure all activity on construction of a 
supermarket at the Gazimestan Serb monument to the 1389 
Battle of Kosovo ceases immediately.  She also underscored 
the critical importance of ensuring that opposition parties 
are not only invited but participate in all the transition 
planning work, including that of the Strategic Transition 
Group.  End Summary. 
 
Strong Support for Ahtisaari 
---------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) In a September 20 meeting of the Strategic 
Transition Group chaired by SRSG Ruecker, representatives of 
the PISG, UNMIK, KFOR, ICO, EUPT and USOP agreed that 
transition work should continue based on the Ahtisaari plan. 
Ruecker noted the importance of the transition framework and 
underscored that elections, scheduled for November 17, must 
not affect the pace of transition planning.  He urged that 
work on all 19 of the Ahtisaari-mandated draft laws and a 
draft constitution be moved forward expeditiously. 
 
¶3. (SBU) ICO PT Head Jonas Jonsson echoed Ruecker's strong 
support for the Ahtisaari plan and continuing work on 
transition planning.  He reiterated that the EU had endorsed 
this plan and that it remained the basis for ICO's efforts to 
prepare for status and an international presence post-status. 
 Jonsson reminded the group that progress on all aspects of 
the Ahtisaari plan would send a strong, positive signal to 
Brussels and would help him make the case to extend his 
planning mission when he travels there later this week. 
 
Progress of the Working Groups 
------------------------------ 
 
¶4. (C) The Strategic Transition Group meeting revealed that, 
despite the August recess, work had been moving along 
steadily at the sub-working group level on several key issues: 
 
-- The Constitution working group has ramped up its work 
schedule and aims to have a working draft largely completed 
by the end of October.  (NOTE. USOP is very much at the 
forefront of this effort in tandem with ICO; we are currently 
exploring bringing a U.S. expert back to Pristina together 
with a Council of Europe colleague for two to three weeks at 
the end of October to provide support during a drafting 
conference that would help Kosovars produce an initial 
working draft, to be further refined over the following 
weeks.  END NOTE) 
 
-- The Economic working group has reached consensus on most 
issues, though some still require policy decisions related to 
the outcome of the status process.  One of those issues is 
the post-status arrangement for the Kosovo Trust Agency 
(KTA), which under Ahtisaari would retain responsibility for 
privatizing socially-owned enterprises.  A stakeholders' 
group on KTA has been established and it has delegated the 
drafting of legislation for the succession of KTA to a 
sub-working group; USOP and USAID will follow this discussion 
 
PRISTINA 00000707  002 OF 002 
 
 
closely. 
 
-- The working group on Governance will hold its first 
post-summer meeting next week, though several of its 
sub-groups have been meeting regularly to move the agenda 
forward.  Progress has been made, in particular, on the 
following:  a draft law on establishing a Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs, including budget estimates, has been approved by the 
government and sent to the Assembly for initial 
consideration; procedures for vetting of civil servants and 
transition of UNMIK archives (reftel) are under 
consideration; and the sub-group on Religious and Cultural 
Heritage, under the co-leadership of the ICO PT and the 
Deputy Minister of Culture, has moved ahead on a draft Law On 
Protective Zones, mandated by the Ahtisaari plan to protect 
Kosovo's most important Serb cultural and religious heritage 
sites.  (Note:  In the interim period before such a law is 
actually passed, the Kosovo government has issued an 
administrative instruction to Kosovo's municipalities 
freezing development in all 47 Special Zoning Areas (SZAs) of 
the Ahtisaari plan -- including in Gazimestan, just outside 
of Pristina, which contains the most important Serb 
historical monument dedicated to 1389 Battle of Kosovo.  COM 
took the opportunity at this meeting to strongly urge the 
PISG to focus on Kosovo Serb rights and in particular 
enforcement of the development moratorium at Gazimestan.) 
 
-- The Civil Administration working group reported that it is 
working on a decentralization plan that will focus not only 
on Ahtisaari-mandated rights for Serb-majority municipalities 
but seek to extend the competencies of all Kosovo 
municipalities in the areas of education, health, social 
welfare and the environment. 
 
-- Both Legal Transition and Rule of Law (ROL) working groups 
reported that the bulk of their work, focusing on the means 
for transferring UNMIK regulations into Kosovo law, had been 
accomplished.  The Legal Transition working group plans to 
take a fresh look at its proposed revisions of existing UNMIK 
regulations from the spring, based on new clarity on the 
mandates of PISG institutions. 
 
-- Discussion on the Security WG was fairly animated, with 
members pressing for the Kosovo Consolidated Budget to take 
into account the full anticipated cost of transitioning the 
security sector.  Concerns over political constraints on 
mandates were also aired, with COMKFOR stressing the need for 
"prudent planning" and OKPCC pushing for engagement on 
planning dissolution of the KPC and standing up of the Kosovo 
Security Force (KSF). 
 
¶5. (C)  Comment:  Though there have been long-standing fears 
that Kosovar authorities might slacken their efforts on 
transition given the length of the status determination 
process, there is continued momentum being shown.  We were 
pleased by the strong support for the Ahtisaari plan as a 
basis for future planning from both the SRSG and ICO in this 
meeting.  Though many of the working group reports were 
upbeat and suggested that the large majority of work was near 
completion, USOP plans to stay closely engaged to ensure a 
high quality final product - particularly on the 
constitution.  On security sector planning, while we 
understand the political constraints placed on COMKFOR by 
NATO HQ regarding future planning, we continue to believe 
that significant preparatory work on the transition to KSF 
needs to be done even before final status is resolved. 
KAIDANOW