VZCZCXRO2415
PP RUEHPOD
DE RUEHVB #0172/01 0861521
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 271521Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY ZAGREB
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9109
INFO RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 1089
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 3489
RUEHBW/AMEMBASSY BELGRADE 0033
RUEHLJ/AMEMBASSY LJUBLJANA 6444
RUEHPOD/AMEMBASSY PODGORICA
RUEHPS/AMEMBASSY PRISTINA 0603
RUEHVJ/AMEMBASSY SARAJEVO 0312
RUEHTI/AMEMBASSY TIRANA 0847

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ZAGREB 000172 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR PRM, EUR/SCE AND EUR/PRM, BELGRADE FOR REFUGEE 
ASSISTANT KURIC 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREF PREL EUC REFUGEES HR CROATIA
SUBJECT: REFUGEE RETURNS, MARCH PRINCIPALS MEETING 
 
¶1. (U) Summary.  In a March 17 meeting with ambassadorial 
level representatives of the international community (IC), the 
Deputy Prime Minister for Regional Development, Reconstruction 
and Return, Slobodan Uzelac, reported that the GOC had made 
significant progress in resettling former occupancy/tenancy 
right holders(OTRs- Serb refugees who had been tenants in 
state owned properties before the war). The government has 
fulfilled its commitment to provide 1,400 housing units as 
part of the 2007 benchmark. It has completed 90 percent of its 
commitment to provide 1,400 housing units as part of the 2008 
benchmark.  Additionally, the government has begun the 
construction and procurement of the majority of housing to 
complete the 2009 benchmark of 2,346 units. Other topics of 
conversation included updates on convalidation, regional 
cooperation, and the sustainability of returns. End Summary. 
 
-------------------- 
Benchmarks: Continued Progress 
-------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) In the meeting with ambassadorial-level representatives 
from the European Commission, UNHCR, U.S. Embassy, and the 
Zagreb based office of the OSCE, the government presented 
updated figures on the progress it has made in the provision 
of housing care for former OTR holders. According to 
government figures 1,400 accessible apartments were provided, 
fulfilling the government?s 2007 benchmark.  ?Accessible? 
means that the apartment is move-in ready, has been assigned 
to an individual family, and applicants have been notified 
that they may pick up a key whenever they wish. Completion of 
the 2007 benchmark is a prerequisite for opening Chapter 23 EU 
accession negotiations (Judiciary and Human Rights). 
 
¶3. (U) The government has met approximately 90 percent of the 
2008 goal of an additional 1,400 housing units. 1,304 
accessible apartments have been provided. The remaining 
apartments are expected to be completed no later then June 
¶2009. Approximately 300 of the resolved cases include people 
who have opted to receive construction material to build their 
own apartments rather then accept government built apartments. 
The principals agreed that the question of whether and how the 
provision of construction materials should be counted in the 
overall benchmark will be discussed and agreed upon during 
technical level meetings. 
 
¶4. (U) The government has set the 2009 benchmark at 2,346 
housing units.  In fulfillment of this benchmark the 
government has already begun construction on 1,350 apartments 
inside the areas of special state concern (ASSC), and is 
currently looking at 800 apartments for possible purchase 
outside the ASSC. The government estimates that a majority of 
the 2009 benchmark will be completed by the end of the year 
and any remaining cases will be resolved in the first quarter 
of 2010. The government agreed to administratively process the 
remaining 2,475 pending applications for housing care by the 
end of 2009. This processing will give a clearer picture of 
the amount of housing needed to be completed in 2010. 
 
-------------------- 
Obstacles to Completion: If You Build It Will They Come? 
-------------------- 
 
¶5. (U) One of the main issues of concern for the government 
regarding the completion of the housing care program relates 
to the high proportion of apartments that have been given to 
returnees but which have not yet been occupied. The GOC 
reported that between 30 and 40 percent of the given 
apartments are empty.  According to Marina Dropulic, the 
Minister for Environmental Protection, Physical Planning and 
Construction, the situation is particularly concerning outside 
the ASSC. Minister Dropulic stated that of the 789 accessible 
apartments given as part of the 2007 and 2008 benchmarks 
outside the ASSC, none of the apartments are currently 
occupied.  65 percent of the apartments outside the ASSC are 
brand new apartments and most are located in developed urban 
centers.  According to the government these apartments are 
deteriorating without occupants. The GOC claimed that previous 
reasons for not moving into given apartments such as waiting 
for children to finish the school year before moving no longer 
made sense in some cases as a new school year had already 
begun.  The government wishes to have some sort of mechanism 
 
ZAGREB 00000172  002 OF 004 
 
 
whereby after the passing of a certain amount of time they can 
give apartments to applicants who are willing to physically 
move in. 
 
¶6. (U) The representatives of the IC agreed that apartments 
should not be allowed to deteriorate and lie empty when there 
are other housing care applicants willing to move in. However, 
Wilfried Buchhorn, the UNHCR Representative in Croatia, 
pointed out that UNHCR had inspected some of these claims as 
part of the 2007 benchmark and while some people no longer 
wished to move and some had reasons related to work or school 
to delay their move, others had valid points of concern 
including damaged apartments or apartments for the elderly 
located on high floors with no elevators.  The government 
questioned the accuracy of the figures in some UNHCR reports 
and Mr. Buchhorn replied that all reports were shared with the 
government before issuance and that he welcomed the critique 
and wished to work better with the government to present as 
accurate a picture as possible. 
 
¶7. (U) The government agreed to work through NGOs to locate 
many of the people who have not yet moved in and to gauge 
their continued interest in receiving housing in Croatia. 
Though it is possible that in the future a deadline may have 
to be imposed after which unoccupied apartments are given to 
families willing to move into the space. 
 
-------------------- 
Convalidation: Rapid Pace but Issues of Concern 
-------------------- 
 
¶8. (U) Mile Rukavina, the director of the Croatian Institute 
for Pension Insurance presented a detailed report on the 
progress achieved regarding convalidation to date. Mr. 
Rukavina reported that their office had given the highest 
priority to processing convalidation claims and that a staff 
of eighty has worked approximately 5,000 hours of overtime to 
effectively process the claims. To date 13,109 applications 
have been received and 4,731(36 percent) have been given 
administrative decisions. 56 percent of these (2,090) received 
negative decisions and 55.8 percent (2,641) received positive 
decisions. 
 
¶9. (U) In previous meetings, members of the IC expressed 
concern over the high rate of refusals as this implied that 
the convalidation process was not working effectively. Another 
area of concern was the disproportionate amount of refusals in 
certain parts of the country which indicated that the new 
instructions on implementation regarding convalidation were 
not being applied in a uniform and fair manner throughout the 
country. 
 
¶10. (U) Mr. Rukavina explained that their greatest obstacle is 
lack of proper documentation to prove previous work time. 
Companies no longer exist, legal successor companies have not 
kept the paperwork, or documents were destroyed during the 
war. Mr. Rukavina claims that every attempt is made to get 
documentation either from the applicant or from the former 
companies and that multiple attempts are made before a final 
rejection. Another obstacle is the difficulty of 
communication. Most of the applicants no longer live in 
Croatia and receiving information can take a long time. Mr. 
Rukavina said that the existence of documents in different 
regions varies due to the destruction that took place during 
the war. In some areas the documents are well preserved and in 
others they are completely destroyed and this accounts for the 
apparently disparate number of rejections for some regions 
over others. 
 
¶11. (U) Mr. Rukavina said high level meetings were held in 
December and February to discuss harmonization of decisions 
and the equal implementation of the convalidation law. He said 
monthly and sometimes weekly meetings are held to give 
instructions to regional offices and to reach consensus 
opinions on difficult cases.  His office has agreed to and 
already started an internal audit of their previously issued 
negative decisions and they will accept assistance from UNHCR 
to locate applicants who reside outside of Croatia. 
 
-------------------- 
Regional Cooperation and the Sarajevo Process 
 
ZAGREB 00000172  003 OF 004 
 
 
-------------------- 
 
 ¶12. (SBU) In response to questions about upcoming prospects 
for regional cooperation to resolve outstanding refugee issues 
and the state of the Sarajevo Process DPM Uzelac responded 
that within the ruling coalition there is not a consensus 
opinion regarding the issue of cooperation.  The issues that 
have been resolved to date are issues they all agree upon and 
the issues which remain open are open because there is not 
internal agreement on how to resolve them. One issue they do 
agree upon is the right of return for everybody who wishes to 
return.  They also agree that there is a small number of 
people who wish to return who haven?t and that this group in 
general is made up of an older and socially vulnerable 
population.  Previous events made it politically impossible to 
advocate for the resolution of the returnee issue but now the 
subject has been depoliticized. 
 
¶13. (SBU) In regards to the Sarajevo Process (SP) the Director 
for Multilateral Affairs at the MFA, Mario Nobilo, announced 
that while Croatia believed the SP originally was a good 
instrument, Croatia now considered the Sarajevo Process 
?over.? He explained that by ?over? he did not mean that each 
and every refugee case had been resolved but that in political 
terms they do not wish to be put in the company of ?the 
unsuccessful? and expose Croatia to the ?internationalization? 
of this issue. The GOC feels that they are in a better 
position to resolve refugee issues if they work bilaterally 
and their focus will be on strengthening this type of 
cooperation. 
 
¶14. (SBU) EC Delegation Head Degert said the conclusion of the 
Sarajevo process should be a decision and declaration among 
all parties in that framework.  Bilateral cooperation is 
welcome but resolving this issue multilaterally would send a 
strong regional signal.  UNHCR representative Buchhorn said 
that the most important thing is to achieve results and the 
form in which that is done is not important, however, how that 
process is seen by other members is important and the other 
member countries do not see the SP as over. 
 
-------------------- 
Sustainability of Returns 
-------------------- 
 
¶15. (U) Members of the IC also addressed two issues that could 
negatively impact the sustainability of returns.  The first 
issue is the enforcement of the Constitutional Law on The 
Rights of National Minorities (CLNM). In part the CLNM 
provides for affirmative action in the employment of 
minorities in the public sector.  However, the implementation 
of this aspect of the law appears to be inconsistent and in 
some places non-existent.  In response, the GOC acknowledged 
that implementation has not been satisfactory and they have 
created a ten point action plan to address the issue. The 
government claims that the high unemployment rate in general 
in the country is a contributing factor as well as minorities 
who do not identify themselves as a minority when they apply 
for jobs. Minister Dropulic remarked that in the course of 
five years not one person applying to work in her ministry has 
ever self identified as a minority. 
 
¶16. (U) The second issue raised was in regard to a new law on 
agricultural land that was passed in December 2008. Depending 
on interpretation the law could in some circumstances enable 
the government to sell or lease unused agricultural land for 
farming without the owner?s consent. Many critics of the law 
feel it would allow the government to take away land from Serb 
refugees who have not returned to Croatia or from recent Serb 
returnees who are not yet able to farm the land they have. DPM 
Uzelac (himself a member of the Serb minority) felt the 
concept of the law was good and necessary and that the 
government had not done a good enough job explaining the new 
law to the public. However he did allude to negotiations that 
were taking place which would answer many of the concerns 
raised by the public. (NOTE: The following day the Ministry of 
Agriculture announced provisions to the law that would 
guarantee landowner consent before the land could be leased or 
sold for farming). 
 
-------------------- 
 
ZAGREB 00000172  004 OF 004 
 
 
Comment 
-------------------- 
 
¶17. (U) The government?s recent figures show a considerable 
amount of progress in providing housing for returnees. Croatia 
has completed its benchmark for 2007 and will fully complete 
the benchmark for 2008 in a short amount of time.  Croatia has 
begun construction and purchasing of apartments for the 2009 
benchmark. Given the significant amount of construction that 
took place during the winter season to fulfill the 2008 
benchmark and as we enter the prime construction periods of 
spring and summer, it is likely that the government will be 
able to finish a majority of the 2009 benchmark by the end of 
the year with a small number left to be done in the first 
quarter of 2010.  A genuine will exists within the government 
to see these issues resolved especially as they continue to 
seek entry into the EU.  The recent re-opening of a diplomatic 
dialogue between Serbia and Croatia has also renewed hope that 
cooperation will lead to a viable solution for the remaining 
refugees. END COMMENT 
 
 
BRADTKE