US embassy cable - 05LJUBLJANA748

C O N F I D E N T I A L  LJUBLJANA 000748 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/RPM - ABAIRD, EUR/NCE - VTRIM, PM/WRA - 
MMCLOY; USNATO FOR SMCGINNIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/24/2015 
TAGS: MARR, MASS, ECON, PGOV, PREL, SI, NATO 
SUBJECT: SLOVENIA: COM MEETS WITH DEFENSE MINISTER, ITF 
DIRECTOR TO DISCUSS NTM-I AND OTHER ISSUES 
 
REF: LJUBLJANA 611 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Maryruth Coleman for Reasons 1.4 (b,d) 
 
1. (C) SUMMARY:  On October 18, COM met with International 
Trust Fund for Demining (ITF) Director Dorijan Marsic to 
discuss the possibility of sending demining trainers and 
Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) specialists to the NATO 
Training Mission in Iraq (NTM-I).  Marsic indicated that ITF 
was prepared to send trainers to Iraq and could do so with 
the support of either the GOS or other ITF donors.  The 
following day, COM hosted a one-on-one lunch for Defense 
Minister and Pensioner Party leader Karl Erjavec to discuss 
GOS support for the deployment of Slovenian demining/EOD 
trainers to NTM-I; Erjavec,s role as head of the Pensioner 
Party (DESUS); GOS plans to hold a tender for the development 
of its public safety communications network, and bilateral 
defense cooperation.  Erjavec expressed support for the Iraq 
training mission for ITF as part of a step-by-step approach 
to get the GOS "on the ground" in Iraq.  Erjavec said he also 
believed his party would not oppose further GOS involvement 
in Iraq, but commented that the government would still have 
to wrestle with the potentially negative public fallout that 
would result from a deployment of Slovenians to Iraq.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
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ITF Director willing to send trainers to NTM-I 
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2. (C) On October 18, COM and PolMiloff met with ITF Director 
Dorijan Marsic to discuss the possibility of sending 
ITF-contracted demining/EOD trainers to NTM-I.  Marsic told 
COM he would welcome the opportunity to send ITF demining 
and/or EOD trainers to Iraq and could do so either at the 
request of the GOS, or with the support of other ITF donors. 
COM told Marsic that if the government was on board with the 
idea, it would be beneficial for the GOS, as a NATO Ally, to 
take ownership of the deployment.  COM also told Marsic that 
he would speak to Defense Minister Erjavec about this issue 
the following day.  Marsic indicated his willingness to 
cooperate and, in a subsequent aside to PolMiloff, offered to 
help enlist support from the opposition Liberal Democratic 
Party (LDS).  (NOTE: Marsic is a former LDS parliamentarian 
and former chairman of the parliamentary Defense Committee). 
 
3. (U) Marsic also told COM that he was resigning as director 
of ITF effective January 1, 2006.  Marsic, who commutes every 
day to ITF headquarters from the coastal port city of Koper, 
told us he would accept a position as Dean of Academic 
Affairs at the Koper-based University of Primorska in order 
to be close to his family.  A meeting of ITF's Managing Board 
is scheduled for November 8, and is expected to confirm ITF 
Deputy Director Goran Gacnik as the next director. 
 
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Erjavec cautious on NTM-I; admits limited experience in 
politics 
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4. (C) During a one-on-one lunch on October 19, COM told 
Erjavec that during an earlier meeting with PM Jansa, the PM 
had expressed his support for sending 5 mentors/trainers to 
NTM-I, but noted that he feared he would not be able to get 
full support for it within his own coalition.  Asked whether 
Erjavec's party (DESUS) would have a problem with such a 
deployment, Erjavec said he thought not.  Erjavec said his 
party was primarily oriented towards economic issues and the 
effect that economic reforms might have on pensioners, and 
that such a deployment was not of particular importance to 
the party.  He also noted, however, that negative public 
reaction to the deployment of personnel to Iraq might make a 
decision more difficult for the government.  COM asked 
whether he thought the GOS, as a first step, would consider 
sending humanitarian demining and EOD trainers from the ITF 
as part of Slovenia,s contribution to the NTM-I.  Erjavec 
agreed that this might be the right approach.  Involving 
civilians in a humanitarian demining operation, particularly 
something identified as a Slovenian niche capability like the 
International Trust Fund for Demining (ITF), would be the 
easiest part of a step-by-step approach to get the GOS on the 
ground in Iraq. 
 
5. (SBU) On the subject of politics, Erjavec told COM he had 
 
 
been asked by the erstwhile head of the pensioner party, 
Anton Rous, to run on the party,s platform only one week 
prior to the beginning of the political campaign before the 
October 2004 parliamentary elections.  Erjavec had hitherto 
been a State Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, and Rous 
had noted the work Erjavec had done in drafting legislation 
to cut back on the power of notaries to overcharge Slovenians 
who needed their services.  Erjavec told COM he had also been 
approached by Justice Minister Zdenka Cerar to run with the 
center-left Liberal Democratic Party (LDS), but had refused. 
In the current government, Erjavec said he had first been 
considered for Justice Minister, but then was offered a 
choice of the Environment, Transportation, or Defense 
portfolios.   He chose Defense, although he noted the 
difficulties associated with the portfolio, including the 
fact that the GOS had had nine MOD,s since independence and 
every one had been grilled in the press (referring to recent 
attacks in the press criticizing Erjavec for avoiding 
immigration and customs formalities on one of his official 
trips outside the country.)  Erjavec also spoke of the 
difficulty he had reforming the Ministry, given all the 
deadwood in the bureaucracy protected by archaic civil 
service laws and &old thinking8 amongst the bureaucracy. 
 
6. (C) COM also raised the issue of the GOS's plans to 
develop a TETRA public safety and communications network and 
asked whether Motorola, a top supplier in the field, could 
expect that a tender might be announced shortly.  Erjavec 
responded by saying he did not know when the tender would be 
offered, but spoke highly of Motorola,s work.  He also spoke 
favorably of General Dynamics/Steier,s proposal to build an 
8x8 armored vehicle at Viator/Vektor in Ravne (Slovenia) and 
thought a GOS decision would be issued in the next couple of 
weeks. 
 
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Pursuing the MFA on the ITF initiative 
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7. (C) Immediately after the Erjavec lunch, COM spoke to MFA 
State Secretary (Deputy FM equivalent) Bozo Cerar and briefed 
him on the ITF idea.  Cerar asked if such a deployment would 
be under a NATO umbrella, and COM responded that it would 
have to be.  At dinner with FM Rupel on October 22 (for 
visiting USOSCE Ambassador Finley), COM raised the ITF 
initiative and Rupel agreed that it was attractive, saying he 
would try to get an answer soon.  We understand MFA and other 
agencies were to convene a meeting on October 24 to discuss 
the issue. 
 
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Comment 
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8. (C/NF) Post's strategy of moving the GOS step by step 
closer to NTM-I is moving forward.  Having established that 
ITF is interested in sending trainers to Iraq--something we 
already suspected given the impending end of the ITF's 
demining mission in Southeastern Europe--we are now 
positioned to lobby the government to provide both the funds 
and the political resolve to send the trainers into Iraq. 
From a technical standpoint, ITF can send demining and/or EOD 
trainers to Iraq even without the GOS's approval.  However, 
we have made it clear to both the ITF and GOS that we see 
this as a decision the GOS needs to take on as a NATO Ally. 
Erjavec's contention that he can deliver his party is welcome 
news, as is Marsic's willingness to lobby the opposition 
Liberal Democrats.  The ultimate decision, however, will be 
for Prime Minister Jansa to make, and Jansa has on several 
occasions indicated that he is open to a Slovenian role in 
Iraq.  Given Slovenia's pride in its niche capability to do 
demining, we will use every bit of leverage available to 
encourage Jansa to meet the Alliance's training needs.  Thus 
far, GOS interlocutors have often expressed  concern that a 
Slovenian deployment to Iraq would be costly in terms of the 
GOS's public support.  That said, PM Jansa told COM (see 
reftel) that he thought public opinion was not so strongly 
opposed, but was concerned his own coalition might not fully 
support it.  By pushing the GOS to send humanitarian demining 
trainers, we hope to mitigate any negative public reaction as 
well as the government's excuse that such a deployment might 
cost them dearly. In addition, we will employ post's public 
diplomacy resources to the fullest extent to support a 
Slovenian deployment to NTM-I. 
 
 
ROBERTSON 
 
 
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