US embassy cable - 05VATICAN460

C O N F I D E N T I A L  VATICAN 000460 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/WE LEVIN; EUR/SCE GREGORIAN AND FOOKS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  3/29/2015 
TAGS: HR, BK, VT, PREL 
SUBJECT: VATICAN OPPOSES COVIC DISMISSAL OR RESIGNATION 
 
REF: HARDT-KAIDENOW 3/29/05 TELCON 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: D. Brent Hardt, Charge d'Affaires a. i., 
Executive Office, Department of State. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
1.  (C) Summary:  Holy See Foreign Minister Lajolo called in 
Charge March 29 to convey the Holy See's concerns about UN High 
Representative Ashdown's recent indication that he intends to 
relieve Covic of his duties as President if Covic does not 
resign pending his trial on corruption charges.  Lajolo 
maintained that such a move, in the face of Covic's strong 
support among the Croat population of Bosnia-Herzegovia, would 
further alienate and anger the Bosnian-Croat population.  Lajolo 
said the Catholic bishops in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia 
believe Ashdown's action is based at least in part on an 
"anti-Catholic attitude."  End Summary. 
 
2.  (C) Holy See Foreign Minister equivalent Archbishop Giovanni 
Lajolo called in Charge March 29 to register the Holy See's and 
ethnic Croatian bishops' concerns about UN High Representative 
Paddy Ashdown's pressure on Bosnia-Herzegovian President Dragan 
Covic to resign and Ashdown's threat to relieve him of his 
duties (which he did later that day).  Lajolo was also calling 
in other ambassadors, including the Dutch (acting EU presidency 
embassy) and British to convey the same message.  The full text 
of the Vatican's aide-memoire is in para. 7 below. 
 
3. (C) After briefly reviewing the situation in Bosnia, Lajolo 
said it seemed premature for Ashdown to move against Covic, 
given that he has not yet been convicted and should be given the 
presumption of innocence until proven guilty.  Lajolo noted that 
Covic had been elected with the support of nearly two-thirds of 
the Bosnian Croats, and he maintained that Covic's removal would 
be seen by the Bosnian Croats as further evidence of 
discrimination against them.  Lajolo said the bishops worried 
about how the Bosnian Croats would react to this move.  He also 
said the bishops themselves would regard Covic's removal as "a 
new attack on the Croatian minority, already numerically 
diminished," and said they would see such an action as being 
based on what they believed was Ashdown's "anti-Catholic 
attitude."  Lajolo said he understood that the United States had 
been supporting Ashdown's actions on this issue, which was why 
he wanted to raise it with us. 
 
4. (C) Charge responded that he would convey the Holy See's 
concerns to Washington and to our mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina 
(ref).  He pointed out that the members of the Peace 
Implementation Council (PIC), which included the United States, 
recognized that Dr. Covic was entitled to the presumption of 
innocence, but believed that Dr. Covic's resignation would 
protect the good name and integrity of the office of the 
presidency and allow him to defend himself free from official 
obligations.  Regarding the bishops' charge of anti-Catholicism, 
Charge asked Lajolo if he had any specific examples from the 
bishops to back up this serious charge.  Lajolo said he had 
none, adding that he was merely relaying the bishops' 
"perception." 
 
5. (C)  The Holy See's concern, Lajolo restated, was a broad 
sense among Croatian bishops that the Bosnian Croats were 
consistently under pressure from Muslims and Serbs, who would 
prefer that they leave the country.  He noted that in Mostar, 
where Croats were a majority, they were nevertheless treated 
like a minority.  Replacing a popular president by fiat, Lajolo 
reiterated, would be widely interpreted as a sign of 
discrimination from the international community against a people 
already facing significant challenges. 
 
6. (C) Comment:  Nationalistic Croatian bishops have good access 
to the Holy See, and it is likely that they have been pressing 
the Vatican to intervene to prevent Covic's removal.  It is 
reflective of the Holy See's traditionally solicitous approach 
to dealing with the Catholic Church in Croatia and 
Bosnia-Herzegovina that the Secretariat of State would take up 
the cause for the bishops in this high-profile way.  It is 
unusual that Lajolo would raise in a formal demarche and in 
written form the charge of an anti-Catholic bias on the part of 
Paddy Ashdown -- even though it was attributed to the Croatian 
bishops.  The British ambassador termed the charge a "disgrace," 
and said the UK was likely to push back strongly. 
 
7.  (C) Text of Aide-Memoire on Covic: 
 
Mr. Dragan Covic, one of the three Presidents of 
Bosnia-Herzegovina, a Croatian, has been accused of corruption 
and private interest; his case is currently under judicial 
investigation. 
 
The High Representative of the United Nations in Sarajevo, Mr. 
Ashdown, assumes that he has the authority to depose, even 
before the decision of the court, the aforementioned President, 
 
who was elected by a two-thirds majority of the Croatian people. 
 
The Bishops of Bosnia-Herzegovina believe this behavior to be a 
new attack on the Croatian minority, already numerically 
diminished, and also maintain that it is based on Mr. Ashdown's 
anti-Catholic attitude. 
 
End text. 
 
HARDT 
 
 
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