VZCZCXRO5105
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHNP RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHBW #0306/01 1000753
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 100753Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY BELGRADE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1154
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RHEHNS/NSC WASHDC
RUZEJAA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BELGRADE 000306 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/SCE (P. PETERSON) 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O.12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PINR PREL SR
SUBJECT: SERBIA EAGER FOR EU VISA LIBERALIZATION BUT FACES KOSOVO 
DILEMMA 
 
REF:  A) BELGRADE 217, B) BELGRADE 32 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1.  (SBU) The Serbian government is pursuing visa liberalization 
with the European Union with more coordination and momentum than any 
other policy goal, motivated by enormous public desire for visa-free 
travel to Europe.  The government and Parliament have completed the 
vast majority of tasks listed in the European Commission's "roadmap" 
and are now finalizing the remaining legislation.  The issuance of 
Serbian passports to residents of Kosovo is seen as the most 
difficult issue to resolve; although it is not yet the subject of 
much public debate, it is likely to become controversial as the 
government decides how to reconcile the two competing priorities of 
European integration and sticking to its guns on Kosovo.  Of all 
Serbia's challenges in moving toward the EU, the visa issue seems to 
have the most momentum and resonance.  Interior Minister Ivica Dacic 
has done much personally to move the issue forward. End Summary. 
 
Serbia's "Roadmap" Is Clear 
--------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (U) On the eve of parliamentary elections in May 2008, the 
European Commission presented Serbia with a "roadmap" to 
liberalization of the visa regime.  (The full text can be found at 
http://www.euserbia.rs/staticke.php?id=7.)  Motivated by the desire 
to regain the freedom of movement enjoyed during the Yugoslav era, 
the government - mostly the Interior Ministry and its Minister Ivica 
Dacic -- and the Parliament have moved quickly to adopt the 
legislation and conclude the international cooperation agreements 
required for Serbia to be placed on the Schengen "White List" for 
visa-free travel within the European Union.  This progress contrasts 
markedly with prospects for unfreezing the Interim Trade Agreement, 
ratifying the Stabilization and Association Agreement, and achieving 
EU candidate status - all of which are blocked by The Netherlands' 
insistence on Serbia's full cooperation with The Hague Tribunal 
(i.e. the arrest of Ratko Mladic). 
 
Most Legislation in Place 
------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The Serbian press widely reported that the March 26 
passage of the anti-discrimination law (Ref A) marked the final 
piece of legislation required by the roadmap.  Our contacts at the 
European Commission delegation in Belgrade tell us, however, that 
Serbia must still finish updating its Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) 
in order to fulfill the roadmap.  A working group which includes 
Embassy representatives is now developing a new set of CPC 
amendments (Ref B). 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Slobodan Homen, Ministry of Justice State Secretary, also 
informed us on March 9 that Serbia must pass a law on classification 
of data in order to satisfy Schengen requirements.  He requested 
information on how the U.S. legal system balances the need for 
government transparency with security.  (DOJ subsequently provided 
background information to the working group preparing the law.) 
Homen also identified the Law on International Legal Cooperation in 
Criminal Matters passed March 18 as a White List prerequisite, 
noting that it had been carefully crafted to permit extradition on 
the basis of international agreements without explicitly saying so. 
 
 
Kosovo an Issue 
--------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) A delegation from the European Commission visited Serbia 
in late March to assess progress on the roadmap.  Our local EC 
contacts tell us that, while the official report will not come out 
for a couple of months, the visitors were generally satisfied with 
Serbia's progress. 
Although it appears that all border control issues have been 
resolved, the visitors saw the need for changes to the current 
practice of issuing Serbian passports to residents of Kosovo due to 
concerns about illegal immigration and criminal activity.  (Comment: 
 This issue has surprisingly not yet sparked much public debate, 
despite a front page Danas article on March 31 entitled "New Risk 
for White Schengen."  End comment.) 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Branko Lazarevic, Interior Minister Ivica Dacic's chief of 
staff, told us on March 3 that the government was looking for a 
solution.  Of the 300,000 new Serbian biometric passports already 
issued since last year, 1200 had been issued to Kosovo Albanians; he 
did not specify how many had been issued to Kosovo Serbs.  He 
predicted that demand would grow sharply once Serbia neared White 
List status.  Lazarevic said that Dacic had proposed adding a prefix 
 
BELGRADE 00000306  002 OF 002 
 
 
to all passports issued to residents of Kosovo, regardless of 
ethnicity, that would invalidate them for visa-free travel in 
Europe.  Issuance would be centralized in Belgrade rather than 
handled by police stations relocated to southern Serbia from Kosovo, 
as is now the case.  Lazarevic compared the proposal to the UK 
practice of differentiating between mainland and Commonwealth 
passports, and emphasized that Serbia could not legally refuse to 
issue passports to "its citizens" in Kosovo. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Local EC contacts are skeptical that the European Union 
will see the Ministry of Interior's proposed solution as workable, 
however.  One issue is the difficulty of determining who actually 
lives in Kosovo, as many Serbs who were born there have never 
changed their residence registration despite having lived in Serbia 
for most or all of their adult lives.  The EC views this as a 
political rather than a technical issue, and will therefore wait for 
the Serbian government's official proposal rather than making a 
recommendation. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Against the backdrop of the worsening economic crisis and 
the perception that Serbia's progress toward EU membership has 
stalled over ICTY conditionality, the Serbian government and public 
seem to be placing all their hopes for a European "breakthrough" on 
the question of visa liberalization.  Milica Delevic, the head of 
the government's European Integration Office, even told us that 
visa-free travel and customs union were more important to Serbs than 
eventual EU membership.  How the government addresses the question 
of passport issuance to Kosovo residents will be the clearest test 
to date of the relative importance it attaches to the two competing 
priorities of European integration and "defending" Kosovo. 
Interestingly, the man in the middle of resolving this issue is 
Interior Minister and Socialist Party (the party of former Serbian 
President Slobodan Milosevic) President Ivica Dacic.  As the rest of 
the EU agenda either stagnates or moves glacially, Dacic may 
engineer the most significant step forward toward European 
integration.  Though the "Nixon to China" comparison is overwrought, 
Dacic may be the man who can ask that Serbs put their own 
self-interests over the symbolism - and ultimately futility - of 
"saving Kosovo."  In the Byzantine world of Serbian politics, he may 
be the politician in the most credible position to argue this case. 
End Comment. 
 
 
MUNTER