US embassy cable - 05LJUBLJANA756

C O N F I D E N T I A L  LJUBLJANA 000756 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/SCE AND EUR/NCE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/26/2015 
TAGS: PREL, SI, YI 
SUBJECT: SLOVENIA: INDEPENDENT KOSOVO - WHAT WAS DRNOVSEK 
THINKING? 
 
REF: LJUBLJANA 737 
 
Classified By: COM Thomas B. Robertson for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1. (C)  Summary.  On October 19 Slovene President Janez 
Drnovsek briefed Contact Group (CG) Ambassadors in Ljubljana 
on his nine point plan for conditional independence of Kosovo 
(Reftel). (Note: text of nine-point plan will come spetel). 
Much to the surprise of the CG Ambassadors, the Foreign 
Ministry, and Drnovsek's own staff, Drnovsek took the plan 
public the next day, even before vetting it with the 
potential parties to the plan. The initial reaction from 
Belgrade as reported in the Slovene press was swift and 
negative.  Drnovsek's planned November 2 visit to Belgrade 
was unceremoniously canceled.  Press reports indicate the 
reaction from Pristina was more positive though the plan 
still falls short of Kosovar Albanian's goals.  Drnovsek's 
reaction to all the negative press was "if nobody likes it, 
then it must be a good plan."  Four days later, Drnovsek has 
not backed away from his proposal saying it is critical to 
get the discussion on concrete footing and headed in the 
direction that all know, even if they will not agree to it 
publicly, is inevitable - Kosovo's independence.  What 
appeared initially as clumsy diplomacy seems now to be a 
deliberate gambit by Drnovsek to influence impending 
discussions on the future status of Kosovo and to end the 
"foot dragging" that he says has characterized the 
International Community's handling of the problem during the 
last five years. We expect he will continue to speak out on 
this subject and will weigh in on discussions with the UN 
Special Envoy for Kosovo Status as negotiations go forward. 
End Summary. 
 
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Building Support 
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2. (C) Drnovsek is pressing on with his mission to influence 
the debate on Kosovo.  In the face of negative press and a 
cool reaction from the EU, Drnovsek made his case to 
Ljubljana's resident EU Ambassadors on October 25.  One EU 
Ambassador called the Embassy to check our reaction and 
agreed with the view that Slovenia, through Drnovsek, wants 
to be a player on Kosovo.  While not precisely embracing 
Drnovsek's plan, neither PM Janez Jansa, nor FM Dimitrij 
Rupel has created much distance between themselves and 
Drnovsek.  As Jansa said to the press the plan is a 
"legitimate initiative of a head of state, which is informal 
and is an attempt to find a solution for the final status of 
Kosovo."  Nonetheless, neither the MFA nor the Prime 
Minister's office was aware that Drnovsek was going to take 
the plan public at the time and in the manner he chose.  Even 
Drnovsek's own foreign policy advisor, Ivo Vajgl, told COM 
that he had been surprised by Drnovsek's move. 
 
3. (SBU) Both the president's office and the MFA undertook 
some damage control.  Vajgl's trip to Belgrade on October 20 
did not result in a new invitation for Drnovsek to visit, nor 
did it seem to budge the Belgrade government on the idea of 
Kosovo independence. But Vajgl, speaking to COM, claimed to 
have had positive discussions with FM Vuk Draskovic, in which 
they agreed on "four principles" for the way forward on 
Kosovo.  He also said he had had multiple interviews with the 
Serb press, TV, and radio to help move the discussion 
forward.  His discussions with the government in Pristina 
seemed to be more positive. Rupel reportedly spoke several 
times with his counterpart, FM Vuk Draskovic and feels 
confident that unhappiness with Drnovsek's plan will not be 
reflected in bilateral relations.  Still, Rupel feels that 
Drnovsek's decision to go public was wrong and that, while he 
agrees with the substance of his proposals, he has not 
contributed anything new to the discussions which the Contact 
Group have been conducting.  As an interesting side-bar, 
Rupel told COM that he and Vuk Draskovic, last January, had 
worked out a document of principles which Draskovic had then 
tried to get approval for in Belgrade, without success.  For 
that reason the document never saw the light of day. 
 
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Working the Serbian Orthdox Church 
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4. (SBU)  Coincidentally, Patriarch Pavle of the Serbian 
Orthodox Church was in Ljbuljana October 23 to consecrate the 
Serbian church of St. Cyril and Methodius down the street 
from the Embassy.  One source highlighted that President 
Drnovsek had purposely gone to the consecration for the 
service and then met separately with the Patriarch.  Noting 
that the Patriarch has "more influence over the feelings of 
the Serbs than any Serb politician," the source made clear 
that Drnovsek had used the time to press the Patriarch on his 
views on Kosovo. 
 
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COMMENT 
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5. (C)  Janez Drnovsek, as the penultimate president of 
Yugoslavia and witness to Milosevic' infamous speech at 
Kosovo Polje in 1989 feels he has a particular contribution 
to make to resolving the issue of Kosovo's future status. 
Based on his experience and knowledge of "how the Serb mind 
works" Drnovsek seems determined to bring his "insider 
status" to bear in any way he can to influence the 
negotiations toward what he, and others, see as inevitable: 
"conditional independence" for Kosovo, and as soon as 
possible.  We expect that Drnovsek will continue to speak out 
on this subject and will weigh in on occasion with the UN 
Special Envoy for Kosovo Status and Former Finnish President 
Ahtisaari as status negotiations proceed. As Drnovsek pointed 
out to Contact Group Ambassadors (reftel), Slovenia as the 
only member state of the former Yugoslavia now a member of 
both the EU and NATO is a model for what both Serbia and 
Kosovo can be in the future.  And it is in Slovenia's 
political and economic interest that that happen as quickly 
and smoothly as possible. 
ROBERTSON 
 
 
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