VZCZCXRO8472
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHBW #1363/01 2782240
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 052240Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY BELGRADE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1556
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BELGRADE 001363 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958:N/A 
TAGS: PBTS PGOV PREL KPAO SR KV
SUBJECT: BELGRADE FEIGNS OPTIMISIM AFTER DIRECT TALKS 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1. (SBU) Serbian leaders returned from the September 28 Kosovo talks 
in New York boasting confidence in Serbia's Kosovo strategy and 
hopeful that the talks could produce an agreement.  The Foreign 
Minister told the Ambassador privately on October 1 that he believed 
the Troika was receptive to President Tadic's concept of a "common 
sovereign home" for Belgrade and Kosovo.  Post will continue to meet 
with government leaders and negotiators to ensure reasonable 
expectations.  End Summary. 
 
Tadic Optimism 
-------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Returning to Belgrade, following the first face-to-face 
meeting in the current round of Troika-facilitated Kosovo talks in 
New York, September 28, Serbia's lead negotiators told the public 
that they were more optimistic about success of Serbia's Kosovo 
policy.  Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic told the Ambassador on October 
1 that the Belgrade-Pristina talks in New York had gone well mainly 
because of the tone President Tadic had expressed in his 
intervention.  Asked about the tone of Prime Minister Kostunica, 
Jeremic was mildly critical, saying Kostunica "always saw the glass 
half empty," Jeremic emphasized, however, that Tadic's Democratic 
Party (DS) and Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) were 
united in their approach to Kosovo, despite clear differences in 
their long-term visions for Serbia.  Jeremic, saying he reflected 
the President's views, said he thought there was a real chance for a 
negotiated settlement with Pristina. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Jeremic said he believed the Troika, especially Ischinger, 
was receptive to Tadic's concept of a "common sovereign home" for 
Serbs and Kosovars, and that the Serbs believed Ischinger would work 
hard before the mid-October meetings in Brussels to give that 
concept some meaning.  The Troika, Jeremic said, had a mandate to be 
more forward leaning and advance new ideas and solutions.  The 
Ambassador noted that he had seen nothing of such a new Troika 
mandate in the two written statements that came from the session, 
but Jeremic said it was his "impression" that this was the case. 
Jeremic believed that he and Samardzic would lead the Serbian 
delegation at Brussels. 
 
Realism 
------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) MFA Political Director Borislav Stefanovic lacked his 
leaders' optimism about reaching an agreement with Kosovo's Unity 
Team.  Stefanovic told poloff, October 4, that the notion of "common 
sovereignty" offered considerable authority to the Kosovars, but it 
did not bridge the gap between independence and autonomy.  In 
response to poloff's urging that Serbia introduce the gap-filling 
proposal as soon as possible, Stefanovic said he did not expect 
Serbia to put a proposal on the table that the Kosovo could accept. 
Echoing Jeremic, Stefanovic said that "if Serbia were able to accept 
such a proposal," it would have to come from the Troika -- and 
"Serbia is not able." 
 
Serb Negotiators Define Progress: Delay 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) In a joint broadcast with Jeremic on RTS state television 
on October 3, Kosovo Minister Slobodan Samardzic said Serbia's 
"common Kosovo policy...[had] achieved results in New York" and 
suggested that the tone of the talks had improved.  Samardzic added 
that Belgrade could be optimistic, because the GOS request had 
successfully extended the Kosovo status talks past the summer of 
2007, implying that they could do so again. 
 
... and Avoiding Regional Precedent 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) The two ministers warned of the regional implications of a 
Kosovo unilateral declaration of independence.  Also on RTS on 
October 3, Samardzic called national borders "the most sensitive 
issue" in the Balkans and said that any change in borders "even as 
part of oral agreements" would create a negative precedent for 
"other ethnic disputes."  Jeremic assured that Serbia sought only to 
protect its territorial integrity, and did "not offer Albanians, and 
they are not interested in, reintegration of Kosovo in Serbia." 
Jeremic explained that Serbia offered Kosovo the "widest possible 
autonomy... keep[ing] some attributes of sovereignty for us." 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Kostunica and Tadic are united on Kosovo policy and both 
plan to show in December that the Troika talks, particularly the 
direct engagement with Pristina, were a good idea and productive. 
They will market this point of view in particular to the Europeans 
as rationale for more talks, pointing to progress as proof that more 
talks are needed.  This is unhelpful, and Post will try to point the 
 
BELGRADE 00001363  002 OF 002 
 
 
Serbs in a different direction and persuade them that, if there are 
new Serbian ideas, the earlier they are shared the better.  Any last 
minute proposals only will be met with cynicism and the Serbs, EU, 
and Russians should be assured of that. End Comment. 
 
BRUSH