US embassy cable - 04BRUSSELS4253

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 004253 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/FO PDAS BRADTKE, EUR/RPM, EUR/ERA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/03/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, MOPS, EUN, NATO, USEU BRUSSELS 
SUBJECT: NAC-PSC DISCUSSION OF BOSNIA AND "OTHER BUSINESS" 
 
REF: STATE 195305 
 
Classified By: USEU Political Military Officer Jeremy Brenner for reaso 
ns 1.5 (b) and (d). 
 
1. (C) Summary:  In the September 27 meeting of the NAC with 
the EU's Political and Security Committee (NAC-PSC), nations 
focused on the constructive NATO-EU cooperation in planning 
for the EU operation in Bosnia, and were confident the few 
remaining issues would soon be resolved.  Ambassador Burns 
called for a NATO-EU joint Public Diplomacy concept for 
Bosnia.  He also welcomed the constructive progress on the EU 
Battlegroups issue, while urging concrete next steps.  SecGen 
de Hoop Scheffer recalled the NATO and EU plan to exchange 
permanent liaison staffs.  The meeting was brief and narrow 
in scope, the agenda being constrained by the Cyprus-Turkey 
issue.  End Summary. 
 
2. (C) EU Council Secretary General Javier Solana and NATO 
Secretary General de Hoop Scheffer briefed on planning for EU 
 
SIPDIS 
Operation Althea in Bosnia and the NATO HQ Sarajevo.  Notable 
points of discussion included: 
 
- Norway, Turkey and Bulgaria, supported by the U.S. and 
several others, appealed for quick resolution on their status 
in the operation's Committee of Contributors.  The EU chair 
assured them that the PSC would resolve the issue shortly. 
The Dutch NATO PermRep, speaking on behalf of the Presidency, 
said in the NAC on September 29 that the PSC meeting 
confirmed that all SFOR TNCs would be members of the 
Committee of Contributors for EUFOR. 
 
- The UK noted that work was underway to ensure a UN Security 
Council Resolution was adopted in October, during the UK's 
UNSC Presidency; 
 
- Finland noted its progress toward assuming the Framework 
nation role for Task Force North (from the U.S.), including 
access to Eagle Base in Tuzla, where an initial Finnish 
contingent had already arrived; 
 
- Solana noted that the EU approach on operational and 
strategic reserves was reflected in its draft Operational 
Plan, and de Hoop Scheffer noted that NATO and EU staffs were 
working to finalize NATO-EU understandings on the subject; 
 
- de Hoop Scheffer said another NATO-EU staff mission would 
visit Bosnia in early October to meet with Bosnian 
authorities (as the two Secretaries General had recently 
done); 
 
- de Hoop Scheffer noted that NATO and EU staffs had 
discussed the NATO-EU "Specific Agreement" on EU use of NATO 
assets and capabilities, which is called for under 
Berlin-Plus, and indicated that once the EU formally requests 
assets/capabilities, NATO's reply would be in the form of the 
initial draft of the Agreement. 
 
3. (C) Ambassador Burns affirmed U.S. expectations and 
support for a successful operation in Bosnia with the EU 
clearly and visibly in the lead.  He stressed the importance 
of public diplomacy to ensure that success, and proposed that 
NATO and EU staffs present to the next NAC-PSC a joint 
NATO-EU public diplomacy concept.  The UK, Turkey and Italy 
supported this idea, and Solana noted that he and De Hoop 
Scheffer were indeed addressing this subject. 
 
4. (C) De Hoop Scheffer also recalled that NATO and the EU 
had affirmed in principle the proposal for EU and NATO 
liaison presences at, respectively, SHAPE and the EU Military 
Staff, and cited Bosnia as evidence of the need to speed up 
these permanent arrangements.  (Comment: the EU Summit in 
June approved proposed terms of reference for these liaisons, 
subject within the EU to agreement on a package of papers 
including the EU internal "civ-mil cell" and "operations 
center.") 
 
5. (C) Under any other business, Ambassador Burns welcomed 
the constructive, single-issue discussion of coherence and 
complementarity between the EU Battlegroups and NATO Response 
Force in the September 20 NATO-EU Capabilities Group, 
including the UK's non-paper for that meeting.  He affirmed 
U.S. support for respective capabilities initiatives so long 
as they upheld interoperability, non-duplication and the 
other principles provided for in Berlin-Plus.  Accordingly, 
he called for a subgroup of the Capabilities Group to 
continue addressing the subject, and urged (supported by 
Turkey) that a NATO and an EU representative each brief the 
next NAC-PSC on the issue. 
 
Schnabel