US embassy cable - 05BRATISLAVA442

C O N F I D E N T I A L  BRATISLAVA 000442 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
FOR EUR/ERA AND WHA/CCA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/07/2015 
TAGS: PREL, CU, PARM, LO, EUN 
SUBJECT: SLOVAK RESPONSE ON EU CUBA POLICY AND JUNE 13 
GAERC DEMARCHES 
 
REF: A. STATE 102505 
 
     B. STATE 105235 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Scott N. Thayer for Reason 1.4 (b) and 
 (d). 
 
1. (C) Pol-Econ Chief shared ref A points on Cuba with MFA on 
June 6, and discussed the points with Lubomir Rehak, European 
Correspondent, along with pre-GAERC points in ref B on June 
7.  Rehak thanked us for providing our point-of-view before 
each GAERC, saying the discussions with emboffs are 
interesting and useful, and that he wished other countries 
(particularly Russia) would do the same.  Rehak had Russia on 
his mind, having just returned from a two-week stint at 
Moscow's diplomatic academy. 
 
EU Cuba Policy 
-------------- 
 
2. (C) The evening of June 6, MFA spokesman Juraj Tomoga told 
Charge that the Slovak representative had been instructed to 
be in "listening mode" at the June 7 COLAT discussion of Cuba 
policy, particularly listening to the Spanish position. 
Rehak said that was an inaccurate portrayal, although he 
confirmed that Slovakia would not join the Czechs and Poles 
in an aggressive campaign to re-impose the restrictive 
measures.  He said Slovakia's main concern was how to engage 
those government officials who would still be in office after 
Castro is gone, and who will be the instruments of reform in 
the future.  Pol-Eeon chief pointed out that the EU policy 
was not having the intended effect, and Rehak admitted that 
the strategy "needed improvements."  One problem the EU 
countries face was similar to a challenge of strengthening 
civil society in Belarus: the dissidents are not united, and 
often are in competition with each other.  There is no clear 
or easy way to provide support.  He thanked the U.S. for the 
concrete suggestions included in the demarche, and said 
Slovakia would be considering its position on Cuba throughout 
the week. 
 
3. (C) Also on June 6, emboffs met with Chair of the Human 
Rights Committee in parliament, Laszlo Nagy.  He described 
the visit of parliament chairman Pavol Hrusovsky to 
Washington and Miami (Nagy also accompanied) as re-inforcing 
Hrusovsky's determination to help Cuban political dissidents. 
 Hrusovsky recently announced his plan for an international 
group of MPs to provide support to dissidents and put 
pressure on the Cuban regime.  Nagy and Hrusovsky will be 
meeting with FM Kukan this week to urge a stronger position 
on Cuba. 
 
Balkans/Kosovo 
-------------- 
 
4. (C) Rehak will travel to London with MFA Political 
Director Miroslav Lajcak to discuss Kosovo next Friday.  He 
thanked Pol-Ec chief for the recent testimony by U/S Burns. 
He in turn recommended the report by the International 
Commission on the Balkans (balkan-commission.org).  Rehak 
also mentioned that since ICTY represnetative Carla del Ponte 
will present her report on Croatia to the European Council 
June 13 (although the Council would be more concerned with 
internal problems after the "no" votes in France and the 
Netherlands), some of the EU foreign ministers planned to 
strategize on Croatia on the margins of GAERC. 
 
Iran, Lebaon, Iraq, US-EU Summit 
-------------------------------- 
 
5. (C) Rehak said Slovakia was on the same page as the U.S. 
in all these issues, and had no other substantive comment. 
On the US-EU Conference on Iraq, Rehak mentioned that Russian 
FM Lavrov had complained about being shut out of the 
mechanism for preparing the conference, when the idea of the 
conference was originally Russian. 
 
China Arms Embargo 
------------------ 
 
6. (C) Rehak speculated that after the French "NO" on the EU 
constitution, other countries would find it easier to resist 
French pressure on this and other issues.  He said the Slovak 
position on lifting the embargo is "fuzzy" at the moment. 
The bottom line is that Slovakia is not willing to ruin the 
Transatlantic relationship over this issue. 
 
7. (C) Rehak said that one interesting thing he noticed at 
the Moscow diplomatic academy was that the Russians compared 
their foreign policy positions with the U.S. and with China, 
but never mentioned the EU positions.  He got the impression 
that Russia didn't consider the EU a player, which in Rehak's 
 
 
view was foolish since the EU is the major source of foreign 
aid in the world. 
THAYER 
 
 
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