VZCZCXRO6161
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN
RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHVB #0517/01 1960932
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 140932Z JUL 08
FM AMEMBASSY ZAGREB
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8474
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ZAGREB 000517 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/SCE, EUR/RPM, EUR/PPD, PRM AND S/WCI LAVINE 
OSD FOR POPOVICH 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV KAWC HR
SUBJECT:  ZAGREB ACTIVITY REPORT - JULY 11 
 
REF: ZAGREB 
 
¶1. (U) CROATIAN FM ATTENDS SIGNING OF NATO PROTOCOL:  Croatian 
Foreign Minister Jandrokovic attended the signing of the NATO 
Accession Protocol for Albania and Croatia in Brussels on July 9. 
Croatian press reports, with headlines such as "From Now On NATO 
Protects Us," featured Jandrokovic's praise of the Croatian 
military, his affirmation of Croatia's intent to continue reforms, 
and his comments that the admission of Croatia and Albania should 
serve as a positive signal to other countries in the region to move 
forward on their own paths toward Euro-Atlantic integration. 
 
¶2. (U) AND MAKES FIRST BILATERAL VISIT TO SLOVENIA IN YEARS:  A day 
earlier, on July 8, Jandrokovic visited Slovenia, meeting with PM 
Jansa and FM Rupel to discuss a range of open bilateral issues. 
While the two governments have had several meetings on the margins 
of other multilateral events, this was the first strictly bilateral 
discussion between the two governments in several years.  Both Rupel 
and Jandrokovic said that bilateral relations were better "than they 
sometimes appeared in public", and Rupel announced that Slovenia was 
now prepared to let the EU open accession negotiations with Croatia 
on the Fisheries chapter.  Commenting on the most serious irritant 
in Croatia-Slovenia relations, a series of maritime and land border 
disputes, FM Jandrokovic said that the "quality" of any solution was 
more important than how quickly it is resolved. 
 
¶3. (U) A/S FRIED VISITS DUBROVNIK FOR CROATIA SUMMIT 2008:  PM 
Sanader hosted the Third Annual Croatia Summit in Dubrovnik on July 
4-5.  Participants including the President of Georgia; Prime 
Ministers of Hungary, Slovakia, Albania, Kosovo, and Montenegro; and 
FMs of Poland, Sweden and Macedonia focused heavily on the future of 
EU enlargement.  The message was that Croatia, and any other 
candidates, should not let the EU's internal difficulties over the 
Lisbon Treaty distract them from the continued reforms and 
negotiations needed to prepare and qualify for EU membership.  More 
valuable than the generally stilted presentations, was the 
opportunity for side meetings on the margins.  One conspicuous 
absentee was the government of Serbia.  PM Sanader told A/S Fried 
that he had sent an invitation to President Tadic personally, but 
that Tadic was not able to attend.  A/S Fried, in his remarks, noted 
his regret that no one from Belgrade was at the Conference. 
 
¶4. (U) CONSTITUTIONAL COURT PRESIDENT DESCRIBES AMBITIOUS REFORM 
AGENDA:  In a July 10 meeting with the Ambassador, newly-elected 
Constitutional Court President Jasna Omejec stressed that serious 
reform was needed to improve the Court's effectiveness.  The Court 
currently struggles with a backlog of as many as 8000 cases, and 
receives soem 5000 new cases annually, because current law provides 
no limits on who has standing to bring a case.  A single plaintiff 
filed 790 separate cases in a single year.  Justice Omejec said she 
had begun a dialogue with the government on the necessary changes to 
the law to allow the Court to focus its work on the most relevant 
cases to protect human rights and Croatia's constitutional 
principles. 
 
¶5. (U) PRESIDENT MESIC IN MONTENEGRO:  Croatian President Stipe 
Mesic visited Podgorica, Montenegro on July 8. Both Mesic and his 
host, President Filip Vujanovic, described cooperation between the 
two countries as successful, with no open issues other than the 
disputed Prevlaka peninsula, just south of Dubrovnik. Mesic said the 
temporary arrangement for Prevlaka was working very well, with no 
incidents reported thus far. The Croatian President described 
Montenegro as the region's most serious candidate for EU membership 
after Croatia. 
 
¶6. (U) GOVT ADVANCES EFFORT TO DELIVER SERBS' PENSIONS: UNHCR's 
Zagreb office was informed this week that the Croatian government 
has taken a further step toward easing the requirements for ethnic 
Serb returnees to receive "convalidation" of their pension rights 
and be given credit for time employed in the Serb-occupied 
territories during the 1990's conflict.  On June 20, the Government 
formally repealed an earlier decision setting a 1999 deadline to 
apply for such convalidation, meaning that there is no longer any 
deadline for such applications. 
 
¶7. (SBU) TRIAL OF NATURALIZED AMCIT FOR WAR CRIMES BEGINS: On July 
10, the Sisak County Court held the first hearing in the trial of 
naturalized American citizen Zeljko Vrljanovic, who is accused of 
killing civilians in the Novska area in March 1993.  Vrljanovic, who 
was arrested in Munich on the basis of an Interpol warrant in late 
2007 as he was returning to the U.S. after a visit to Serbia, was 
extradited to Croatia in December.  His lawyer immediately filed a 
motion to move the case from the court in Sisak to one of the four 
regional courts in Croatia where staff have received specific 
training in handling of war crimes cases.  Post, which supported the 
designation of the four chambers for war crimes cases, believes a 
change of venue would provide a useful boost to the chances of an 
adequate trial.  A decision on the motion may be made in the coming 
week, but the trial itself will likely recommence only in 
 
ZAGREB 00000517  002 OF 002 
 
 
September. 
 
¶8. (U) PARLIAMENT ESTABLISHES CONFLICT OF INTEREST COMMISSION:  The 
Croatian Parliament has appointed the members of Croatia's first 
Conflict of Interest Commission.  This Commission was established as 
part of Croatia's National Action Plan to Combat Corruption, and if 
effective, would address a significant need in Croatia's efforts to 
create clear rules and procedures for avoiding potential conflicts 
of interest.  The eleven member Commission consists of three 
government politicians, three opposition politicians, and five 
non-partisan appointees.