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P 020637Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY ZAGREB
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9121
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBW/AMEMBASSY BELGRADE PRIORITY 0037
RUEHVJ/AMEMBASSY SARAJEVO PRIORITY 0316
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 ZAGREB 000180 
 
NOFORN 
SIPDIS 
 
PLEASE PASS TO EUR/SCE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/23/2019 
TAGS: PRGOV PREL HR SR
SUBJECT: SANADER'S VISIT TO BELGRADE OPENS POSITIVE CHAPTER 
IN BILATERAL RELATIONS 
 
REF: A. 08ZAGREB688 
     ¶B. 08ZAGREB00778 
     ¶C. 08BELGRADE1234 
     ¶D. ZAGREB00024 
 
Classified By: PolOfficer Peter D'Amico, for reasons 1.4(b) & (d). 
 
¶1.  (U) This cable was drafted jointly by Embassies Zagreb 
and Belgrade. 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶2. (C) Summary:  Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader visited 
Belgrade on March 20 to meet with senior Serbian political 
figures, including Serbian President Boris Tadic.  Both the 
GoC and the GoS viewed the trip as a success and both shared 
credit, acknowledging the need to improve bilateral relations 
which will make them more attractive to the European Union. 
Sanader and Tadic held a private one-on-one meeting where 
they further discussed sensitive issues such as the ICJ cases 
and Tadic's views on NATO.  Sanader and Tadic also spoke 
about cooperating more to improve stability in 
Bosnia-Herzegovina.  Publicly both sides emphasized that they 
supported each other's Euro-Atlantic aspirations and sought 
to improve cooperation on energy issues.  Some of the 
potential future high-level contacts between the two 
countries included a possible Tadic visit to Croatia in May 
or July as well as annual joint cabinet sessions.  Sanader's 
trip to Belgrade signaled the potential beginning of a new 
positive phase in the bilateral relations between the two 
countries, which is vital for the stability of Southeast 
Europe.  End Summary. 
 
Sanader Goes to Belgrade 
------------------------ 
 
¶3. (C) On March 20 PM Sanader had a one-day visit to Belgrade 
to meet with senior Serbian political figures, including 
Serbian President Boris Tadic.  Sanader, who was accompanied 
by a delegation of Croatian officials and businessmen, also 
met with Serbian PM Mirko Cvetkovic, Speaker of the 
Parliament Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic as well as 
representatives of the Croatian community in Serbia.  Serbian 
Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic, whose last visit to Zagreb was 
famously unproductive, perhaps intentionally was out of the 
country.  Sanader has been looking for the opportunity to 
engage with Belgrade to try and improve relations between the 
countries (ref A and B).  As Sanader noted to the press 
during the visit, he views the relationship as being key to 
the stability of the region. 
 
GoC Has Positive View of the Visit 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (C) The Director for the Croatian MFA's Regional 
Department, Ambassador Davor Vidis told Embassy Zagreb on 
March 23 that the GoC viewed the visit as very positive.  He 
noted that two agreements had been signed during the trip. 
The first was a protocol on cooperation regarding the EU 
integration process.  This protocol would help facilitate the 
transfer of documents that the GoC had translated as part of 
the European integration process at considerable cost. 
Sanader mentioned during the trip to the press that these 
documents could be exchanged in return for some reciprocal 
gesture on the part of the GoS.  The second document signed 
was a memorandum of cooperation on language and literature 
that set up a lecturer position for Serbian in Zagreb and a 
Croatian lecturer in Novi Sad.  Vidis said the 
representatives of the Croatian community in Serbia were 
pleased that this agreement had been signed. 
 
Belgrade also Positive 
---------------------- 
 
¶5. (C) Though describing the Sanader visit as welcome and 
successful, Vladimir Odavic of the Serbian MFA's Neighboring 
Countries Directorate told Embassy Belgrade that despite the 
"good, intensive dialogue," nothing serious was accomplished. 
 Odavic said that the Serbian side was disappointed that the 
meetings did not broach in any depth nor set a timetable to 
discuss the more sensitive outstanding issues in the 
 
ZAGREB 00000180  002 OF 004 
 
 
bilateral relationship, including refugee-related issues, the 
ICJ suit, Croatian "secret lists" of war crimes indictments, 
and unresolved border disputes.  Odavic estimated that Zagreb 
was motivated to achieve a thaw with Belgrade so as to 
demonstrate to Brussels that Croatia can be a good neighbor 
despite Croatia's border dispute with Slovenia.  However, 
Odavic said, Zagreb was unlikely to want to touch the serious 
bilateral issues and would instead focus on economic 
cooperation, particularly in the energy sector, which would 
be more politically palatable on both sides.  His boss, 
Neighboring Countries Directorate Chief Maya Mirkovic was 
more optimistic telling us at a lunch on March 27 the 
rapprochement was both timely and necessary.  Other lunch 
attendees, Croatian DCM Romana Vlahutin and Serbian EU 
Coordinator for the Prime Minister's Office Milica Delevic, 
practically duked it out taking credit for the trip's success 
and commitment to a joint EU future. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Belgrade's political elite was divided in its views 
of the Sanader visit. While expressing optimism that the 
visit was a productive start of a thaw, President of the 
Forum for International Relations and former Serbian 
Ambassador to Croatia Milan Simurdic said that Belgrade and 
Zagreb have yet to reconcile their understanding of 
priorities in their bilateral relations.  Conservative 
commentator Misa Djurkovic denounced the government's focus 
on cultural exchange instead of tackling the difficult issues 
involving refugee returns and property restitution. 
Ex-Radical and leader of Serbia's second-most popular 
political party, the Serbian Progressive Party, Tomislav 
Nikolic predictably and unconstructively described the visit 
as a "mere courtesy call" that could not advance relationship 
further because Croatia "is not a democratic country, and is 
no kind of partner to Serbia." 
 
¶7.  (SBU) During the weekend following the visit, random 
samplings of Belgraders, demonstrated considerable relief 
that the visit had occurred at all and that the two countries 
were talking about a more normal relationship.  They started 
talking about returning to Croatia's seaside for vacation, 
resuming sporting competitions and attending concerts of each 
other's pop stars. 
 
Sensitive Issues Addressed in a Constructive Manner 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶8. (C) Both sides publicly acknowledged that there were 
issues on which they disagreed, and that had strained 
relations, such as Croatia's genocide case against Serbia  at 
the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and Serbia's 
countersuit against Croatia (ref C).  However, they stressed 
that they wanted to address them in a manner that  would 
improve bilateral relations and deal with some of  them at a 
later, unspecified date.  During the visit Tadic told the 
press that bilateral relations had been "traumatized" during 
the previous century and that both sides were now attempting 
to "de-traumatize" them.  Tadic noted, in remarks that 
received substantial coverage in the Croatian press, that 
while the GoS disagreed with Croatia's decision to recognize 
Kosovo's independence, Serbia would defend its 
territorial claims by diplomatic and legal means and would 
not "wage wars."  Additionally, the two sides briefly 
discussed issues that stemmed from the war in the 1990s like 
the return of refugees and the fate of missing persons. 
 
One-on-One Meeting between Sanader and Tadic 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶9. (C/NF)  Vidis provided a readout on some of the unreported 
aspects of a private, nearly hour-long one-on-one meeting 
between Tadic and Sanader.  On the ICJ cases, Sanader 
mentioned during the meeting that when he was Deputy Foreign 
Minister in 1999 he had recommended against the idea of 
filing the genocide case.   While there could not be an 
immediate resolution of the respective ICJ claims at the 
moment, there existed the opportunity for a possible 
compromise solution on the cases at some point in the future. 
  According to the Vidis, Tadic also spoke in favor of NATO 
during the one-on-one meeting, remarks that he did not make 
publicly.  Sanader responded that Croatia would help Serbia 
with its NATO aspirations at whatever "tempo" Belgrade wanted 
from Zagreb. 
 
ZAGREB 00000180  003 OF 004 
 
 
 
Bosnia-Herzegovina 
------------------ 
 
¶10. (C) President Mesic's Foreign Policy Advisor Budimir 
Loncar told the Ambassador on March 25 that Tadic and Sanader 
had also discussed Bosnia-Herzegovina.  Sanader noted that 
Bosnian territorial integrity needed to be respected and 
raised concerns about the rhetoric of Republika Srpska (RS) 
PM Milorad Dodik.  Tadic acknowledged that Dodik was not easy 
to deal with, but added that Dodik was not crazy.  Dodik knew 
that Dayton provided important guarantees for the RS.  Tadic 
also said that some of Croatia's actions regarding Bosnia 
were not helpful, such as Mesic's comments about Dodik, the 
Croatian HDZ connections with the Bosnian HDZ 1990, as well 
as the right that Bosnian Croats had to vote in Croatian 
elections.  According to Loncar, Tadic and Sanader agreed 
that it was important that Croatia and Serbia try to 
"harmonize" their views on Bosnia. 
 
Euro-Atlantic Integration 
------------------------- 
 
¶11. (C) Both sides emphasized that they supported each 
others, Euro-Atlantic aspirations.  Sanader said  that 
Croatia would help Serbia on its path toward Euro-Atlantic 
integration.  He publicly stated that Croatia "would not 
behave like Slovenia," and would give its full support to the 
efforts of its neighbor to join the EU and NATO.  Sanader 
told the press that Croatia and Serbia could be the France 
and  Germany of Southeast Europe since they were two 
neighbors that had fought against each other but were now the 
foundation for stability in their regions. 
 
Energy Sector Provides Area for Greater Cooperation 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶12. (C) Sanader brought along with him Deputy Prime Minister 
Damir Polancec and representatives of the major Croatian 
energy companies to meet with their Serbian counterparts to 
increase cooperation on energy issues.  Both sides noted that 
they had an interest in diversifying their supplies of energy 
and increasing the energy links between the energy 
infrastructures of the two countries, particularly in the 
aftermath of the cutoff of Russian gas in January.  (Note: 
Sanader spoke directly with Tadic during the gas cutoff in 
January about the crisis (ref D)  End Note.)  One area for 
cooperation discussed was possible Serbian involvement in the 
planned LNG terminal on the Croatian island of Krk as part of 
an effort to diversify gas supplies for both countries and 
the region.  Additionally, they also talked about potential 
investment in gas storage facilities in Slavonia and 
Vojvodina.  Looking more broadly at the 
economic relationship, Sanader also told the press that there 
should be no obstacles for Serbian goods in Croatia. 
 
Future Visits 
------------- 
 
¶13. (C) During the visit the press reported that PM Cetkovic 
would visit Zagreb in the future.  Both the Serbian Embassy 
in Zagreb and the Croatian MFA mentioned that Tadic would 
likely visit Croatia in May or July.  Additionally the 
Croatian MFA stated that the two sides discussed having 
annual joint cabinet sessions like Croatia already has with 
Hungary, an initiative that was reported in the Serbian 
media.  Vidis also noted that President Mesic wanted to visit 
Serbia before the end of his term.  Vidis added, however, 
that Mesic would also like to visit Kosovo which would 
complicate a trip to Belgrade. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶14. (C) Sanader's trip to Belgrade marked an important step 
forward in bilateral relations between the two countries that 
had been strained over the last year by Croatia's recognition 
of Kosovo's independence and the ICJ cases.  The successful 
high-level visit sent an important signal that the bilateral 
relationship should focus more on future cooperation rather 
than past grievances.  Each side's Euro-Atlantic aspirations 
played a key role in facilitating good neighborly relations 
 
ZAGREB 00000180  004 OF 004 
 
 
between the two key countries, and the private meeting 
between Sanader and Tadic was important because they were 
able to broach the difficult issues, which will be much more 
difficult to resolve, such as the ICJ cases.  Making further 
improvements in the ties between Croatia and Serbia will be 
vital to increasing stability in the region, particularly 
with economic conditions worsening in Southeast Europe and 
concerns in the region growing on the prospects of further 
enlargement of Euro-Atlantic institutions.  End Comment. 
BRADTKE