US embassy cable - 05ZAGREB1833

C O N F I D E N T I A L ZAGREB 001833 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/RPM, EUR/SCE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/16/2015 
TAGS: PREL, MARR, NATO, HR 
SUBJECT: NATO'S MIXED MESSAGE TO CROATIA 
 
Classified By: Poloff Justin Friedman, reasons 1.4 (b) & (d) 
 
1. (U) This is an Action Request - see para 3. 
 
2. (C) SUMMARY and COMMENT: NATO DSYG Minuto Rizzo made a 
brief stop in Zagreb on November 11 on a whirlwind tour of 
MAP countries Croatia, Albania, and Macedonia.  Minuto Rizzo 
carried a useful message about NATO being a community of 
values.  It was incumbent on aspirant countries to 
demonstrate that they shared these values and assume the 
responsibility to become security providers.  However, Minuto 
Rizzo's message that defense reform was less urgent than the 
political dimension to Croatia's NATO aspirations directly 
undermined post's efforts to light a fire under senior GoC 
officials to start moving on reforms and make faster progress 
in achieving MAP goals.  END SUMMARY and COMMENT. 
 
3. (C) ACTION REQUEST: Under- or de-emphasizing defense 
reform runs counter to our efforts in Croatia.  Post believes 
Department should consider asking the NATO International 
Staff to reaffirm with the Croatian authorities the 
importance of defense reform. 
 
4. (C) NATO DSYG Alessandro Minuto Rizzo briefed NATO member 
state Ambassadors and DATTs on November 11 on his meetings 
that day with Croatian President Mesic and Prime Minister 
Sanader.  Minuto Rizzo said he has been telling his 
interlocutors (in Zagreb as well as in Tirana and Skopje) 
that he was coming with a message of encouragement for NATO 
candidate countries.  He emphasized that NATO was not just a 
military organization but a political organization and a 
community of values.  NATO was very different from the EU as 
it was the only place where European and North American 
countries come together to work on foreign policy, security, 
defense, and civil emergency response issues.  NATO had 
considerable expertise in these issues and could be of 
assistance to aspirant countries. 
 
5. (C) Minuto Rizzo reported that PM Sanader said that he 
wanted to intensify Croatia's activities with NATO and become 
a member as soon as possible.  Sanader said that the Croatian 
public was not against membership, just not enthusiastic. 
The opening of EU membership negotiations had given public 
support for the EU a big boost, and Sanader wants and expects 
the same to occur with NATO.  Minuto Rizzo concluded that he 
and NATO international staff needed to return and do more 
public diplomacy work, urging the assembled ambassadors to do 
more to raise public awareness of NATO. 
 
6. (C) Sanader asked about Croatia's weak points in the path 
toward membership.  Minuto Rizzo said that he responded that 
the key areas remain dealing with refugee return, reform of 
the judiciary, corruption, and cooperation with the ICTY.  On 
defense reform, Minuto Rizzo said that Croatia had progressed 
considerably.  He said he told Sanader and Mesic that Croatia 
should not aim for a big army, but a small, flexible, 
sustainable, and deployable force ready to work on NATO 
operations.  Croatia needs to focus on usability, not high 
technology equipment. 
 
7. (C) In his meeting with President Mesic, Minuto Rizzo 
briefed that Mesic was focused on defense reform, marking the 
considerable progress Croatia has made in downsizing the 
military.  Mesic complained that the government was not 
providing enough resources for defense reform/transformation. 
 Minuto Rizzo said that he responded that defense reform was 
not as important as achieving a change in mentality to assume 
the responsibilities of becoming a security provider. 
 
8. (C) Privately, many of the assembled Ambassadors were 
disappointed in Minuto Rizzo's report.  The UK, Canadian, 
Romanian, and Norwegian Ambassadors, as well as the Polish 
Polcouns all told PolOff that Minuto Rizzo had not been 
helpful with the message he delivered de-emphasizing the 
importance of defense reform.  Several noted that the key to 
achieving the flexibility and deployability Minuto Rizzo had 
called for is precisely in the defense reform process which 
is moving slowly now in Croatia. 
DELAWIE