VZCZCXRO0561
PP RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHNP RUEHROV RUEHSL RUEHSR
DE RUEHSM #0504/01 2241142
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 121142Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY STOCKHOLM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4617
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 STOCKHOLM 000504 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/12/2019 
TAGS: PREL MARR NATO KPKO KVIR EUN SW
SUBJECT: SWEDEN'S PLAN TO MANAGE BORDER DISPUTES BETWEEN EU 
AND NON-EU STATES 
 
REF: OSC EUP20090303022002 
 
Classified By: PolCouns Marc Koehler, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: Frustrated by the use of EU accession as a 
bargaining tool in border disputes, Sweden is working on a 
new mechanism to solve the problem, MFA Deputy Director 
General for Europe Lars Wahlund told PolCouns July 19.  The 
Swedes would like to add a "Good Neighbor Policy" as a 
"pseudo acquis" chapter.  This would be a pledge by each EU 
aspirant not to hold hostage another's EU application in 
order to settle a border dispute.  The mechanism includes the 
European Commission cataloguing every border dispute for 
aspirant countries and detailing the actions the Commission 
would like to see each year.  The Commission would then 
review the list annually for progress made by the aspirant 
countries.  While noting that it was too late for this to 
apply to Slovenia's dispute with Croatia, Wahlund said that 
governments of Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia would soon be 
releasing a statement that "they were moving towards EU 
accession together and they pledged not to use the EU 
accession process to settle bilateral disputes."  End 
Summary. 
 
Border Dispute Plans 
-------------------- 
 
¶2. (C) Daunted by the number of border disputes among Western 
Balkan countries, Sweden wishes to create a mechanism by 
which the Commission would catalogue all existing disputes to 
avoid disputes blocking membership for otherwise qualified 
applicants.  Wahlund said disputes between non-EU members and 
EU members could be resolved using EU tools as part of the 
Stabilization and Association Process, with benchmarks for 
progress.  The Commission should require movement on 
resolving border disputes to demonstrate that an EU aspirant 
enjoys "good neighborly relations."  Sweden plans to 
intensify dialogue with the Commission in the pursuit of 
this.  Under the Swedish proposal, the Commission would be 
responsible for annually evaluating progress on all border 
issues and prescribing the actions the aspiring members 
should take over the following year. 
 
¶3. (C) Separately, EU Correspondent Magnus Scholdtz told 
PolOffs that Sweden has made a complete inventory of all 
border disputes in the Balkans and is working on a plan to 
treat them all through common regional principles.  Putting 
such disputes into a wider context could lessen the intensity 
of bilateral friction and the pressure from domestic 
constituencies, he said. 
 
"Good Neighbor Policy" 
---------------------- 
 
¶4. (C) Although the European Commission is supposed to 
consider regional cooperation and "good neighborly relations" 
when negotiating association agreements, the Commission, 
Wahlund averred, too often looks just at issues pertaining to 
a single country and the relations it has bilateraly with the 
EU.  Sweden thinks that the Commission should do more, 
including expanding the acquis to cover border disputes when 
negotiating with candidate member states.  Sweden would also 
like to make a "Good Neighbor Policy."  This would be a 
pledge by candidates not to hold hostage an EU application in 
order to settle a border dispute.  There would be no formal 
acquis chapter, but instead a "pseudo aquis" chapter. 
 
Croatia and Its Neighbors 
------------------------- 
 
¶5. (C) Wahlund said that Sweden had persuaded the governments 
of Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia to release a statement that 
"they were moving towards EU accession together and they 
pledged not to use the EU accession process to settle 
bilateral disputes."  Wahlund said it is too late to attempt 
to apply any new formal conditions on border disputes to 
Croatia's accession process, but perhaps such could be 
included in the final accession agreement.  Croatia first 
must resolve its border dispute with EU member Slovenia, 
which has, to Sweden's dismay, "EU-lateralized8 a bilateral 
dispute.  The Swedes are concerned that Slovenia's current 
objections would set a poor precedent for Croatia to use on 
the aspirant members with which it has border disputes, once 
itself has secured EU membership.  Wahlund said Croatia 
should be asked to agree to refer all disputes to the 
International Court of Justice (ICJ). 
 
Comment: 
-------- 
 
¶6. (C) Balkans experts within the MFA seem very keen to make 
changes to accession requirements, with an eye on potential 
 
STOCKHOLM 00000504  002 OF 002 
 
 
problems associated with Croatia,s eventual entrance into 
the EU.  However, it is unclear whether significant momentum 
has built up within the larger Swedish bureaucracy for 
pushing these changes at the EU level.  We defer to USEU as 
to whether there is any momentum on this in Brussels.  End 
Comment. 
SILVERMAN