US embassy cable - 05LJUBLJANA36

C O N F I D E N T I A L LJUBLJANA 000036 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/NCE AND PM/WRA (STEPHANIE PICO) 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/19/2015 
TAGS: PARM, SI 
SUBJECT: SLOVENIA: DEMARCHE DELIVERED ON MARKING AND 
TRACING OF SA/LW 
 
REF: SECSTATE 9788 
 
Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Dean J. Haas for reasons 1.4(b) 
and (d). 
 
1.  (C) On 20 January, Pol-Miloff delivered reftel talking 
points and position paper to MFA Security Policy Department 
staffer Bostjan Jerman, who handles SA/LW issues.  Jerman 
mentioned that Ambassador Thalmann's draft text was discussed 
among EU member states in Brussels on 17 January.  He said a 
majority of EU member states, including Slovenia, were in 
favor of negotiating the SA/LW marking and tracing instrument 
as a legally binding document.  He said Slovenia is also in 
favor of including ammunition in the instrument; however, 
Jerman noted that different views exist within the GoS on the 
question of whether every bullet should be marked.  While the 
Slovenian police support marking individual bullets for 
criminal investigation reasons, he said the MoD recognizes 
the prohibitive cost of such a measure. 
 
2.  (C) Jerman admitted that there is widespread recognition 
within the EU that consensus will not be reached to make the 
instrument legally binding, acknowledging that many countries 
in addition to the U.S. would not give in on that point. 
Nonetheless, he said if the EU or Slovenia were to give in on 
its position with respect to the legally binding nature of 
the instrument too early, they would have little to bargain 
with later on.  Jerman predicted that the legally binding 
discussion would be resolved at the June Open Ended Working 
Group (OEWG) meeting, adding that "maybe the EU line would 
evolve by then."  He then wryly noted that the EU has a 
history of supporting politically binding instruments, citing 
the EU Code of Conduct in the context of the China Arms 
Embargo. 
ROBERTSON 
 
 
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