US embassy cable - 05BRATISLAVA468

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRATISLAVA 000468 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/17/2015 
TAGS: PREL, LO, UN, UNSC 
SUBJECT: SLOVAKIA: DEMARCHE ON UN REFORM AGENDA 
 
REF: A. STATE 11637 
     B. STATE 11657 
 
Classified By: CDA Scott N. Thayer for Reasons 1.4 (B) and (D). 
 
1.  (C)  SUMMARY AND COMMENT:  On June 17, Charge delivered 
reftel points to Magda Vasaryova, State Secretary at the 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  Vasaryova explained the UN's 
historical and "sentimental" importance to Slovakia, and 
reinforced Slovakia's strong support for the UN reform agenda 
outlined by the USG.  She was well-versed on current UN 
issues, and explained that she has been "globetrotting" to 
try to feel out other countries' positions on UN reform and 
to prepare for Slovakia's 2006-7 UNSC seat.  Slovakia is 
currently supporting Germany and Japan for permanent seats on 
the UNSC, though Vasaryova said that Slovakia is under "huge 
pressure" from other countries seeking permanent Security 
Council (UNSC) seats -- particularly Italy.  As supportive as 
Slovakia is of Security Council reforms, she said that 
Slovakia hopes that the reform process will not stop with the 
Security Council, but will continue beyond the UNSC to the 
secretariat and other organs as well.  END SUMMARY AND 
 
SIPDIS 
COMMENT. 
 
SLOVAKIA AND THE UN: A LONG, SENTIMENTAL STORY 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
2.  (C)  Charge and Poloff (notetaker) delivered reftel 
points to MFA State Secretary Magda Vasaryova on June 17. 
Vasaryova, who returned earlier this week from a working 
visit to Russia, explained that her recent travels to 
Washington, Russia, China, and elsewhere, have been an 
attempt to try to start gaining information and experience on 
UN issues before Slovakia assumes its UNSC seat in January 
2006.  Slovakia places a great deal of importance on the UN, 
she explained, in part because of "sentimental" reasons.  She 
noted a Slovak diplomat signed the UN Charter as a 
representative of Czechoslovakia in 1945, as well as the work 
of a Slovak diplomat who served as a close advisor to former 
UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold before perishing with 
him in the 1961 plane crash in Rhodesia. 
 
SLOVAKIA SUPPORTS REFORM THROUGHOUT THE UN... 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
3.  (C)  Vasaryova told Charge that in today's world, there 
cannot be peace without "a modern and efficient UN." 
Slovakia wants the UN to work and agrees that there is a 
definite need for reforms, and this is another reason that 
Vasaryova has spent "many hours" in foreign capitals recently 
speaking with governments about their positions on the UN. 
The State Secretary told Charge that Slovakia "will support 
every activity to make the UN a much more flexible, 
transparent organization" and that it is supportive of USG 
efforts on such topics as the Peacebuilding Commission and 
the reform of the Committee for Human Rights.  She noted, 
however, that Slovakia is afraid that the reform agenda will 
not end up extending beyond the Security Council. 
 
...AND JAPAN AND GERMANY FOR PERMANENT UNSC SEATS 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
4.  (C)  Officially, Slovakia has expressed its support for 
Germany and Japan, though Vasaryova said that the support for 
Germany was more of a "gesture" to encourage Germany to take 
additional responsibility in the region and the world, and 
that they support Japan "so Germany is not alone."  Vasaryova 
said that Slovakia has been getting "huge pressure" from 
other countries, most notably Italy, regarding the UNSC 
expansion. 
 
5.  (C)  Vasaryova also pointed out that even though Slovakia 
is now a member of NATO and the EU, Slovakia still sees a 
need for the eastern European bloc at the UN, as it affords 
Slovakia the "space" to adequately work through issues with 
its neighbors, and that she is afraid that being lumped in 
with the western European states would not allow them this 
lebensraum. 
THAYER 
 
 
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