US embassy cable - 05SOFIA1971

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SOFIA 001971 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/22/2015 
TAGS: MARR, PGOV, PREL, BU 
SUBJECT: MOVING CLOSER TO AGREEMENT ON U.S. MILITARY ACCESS 
 
REF: A. SOFIA 000924 
 
     B. SOFIA 001796 
 
Classified By: Amb. John Beyrle, for reasons 1.4 a and d. 
 
1. (C) SUMMARY:  A negotiating team led by Ambassador Robert 
Loftis made substantial progress toward a supplemental Status 
of Forces Agreement (SOFA) and Defense Cooperation Agreement 
(DCA) with the GOB during talks in Sofia on November 16-17. 
The U.S. and GOB reached agreement in principle on most 
issues with the exception of taxation, 
importation/exportation, contracting procedures, criminal 
jurisdiction, operational flexibility, and strategic 
framework language.  The U.S. team plans another visit to 
Sofia in January 2006, to be preceded in December by a 
technical team to discuss tax, importation and related 
mechanisms.  END SUMMARY. 
 
2. (C) During November 16-17 negotiations in Sofia, the U.S. 
and Bulgarian delegations made progress in a number of areas, 
primarily in the draft Status of Forces Agreement.  Agreement 
was reached in the following areas: 
 
a. Preamble:  The U.S. agreed to add a reference to the 
applicability of the NATO SOFA; however, the Bulgarian 
Ministry of Justice would prefer the reference as an 
operative paragraph. 
 
b. Definitions are largely agreed.  Further work remains to 
refine the definition of dependents, including the status of 
dependents who are also Bulgarian nationals who may be a 
member of the civilian component.  Bulgaria agreed that 
Bulgarian employees could be considered a member of the 
civilian component for claims purposes. 
 
c. Bulgaria will provide revised text on entry/exit of 
dependents and contractors. 
 
d. Agreed to language on determination of official duty for 
alleged criminal offenses and civil liability. 
 
e. Agreed to language on Custody and Access. 
 
f. Agreed to language on Confinement and Visitation. 
 
g. Agreed to language on Discipline. 
 
h. Agreed to language on Security. 
 
i. Agreed to language on Motor Vehicles and Drivers Licenses. 
 
j. Agreed to language on Customs Procedures. 
 
k. Agreed to language on Military Post Offices. 
 
l. Agreed to language on Currency and Exchange (ad ref 
pending approval of the Central Bank). 
 
m. Agreed to language on Utilities and Communications. 
 
n. Agreed to language on Environment, Health and Safety. 
 
3. (C) The Bulgarians proposed a new article that would hold 
the U.S. one hundred percent liable for any damages it might 
cause.  The U.S. rejected this as contradicting the NATO SOFA 
claims provisions.  The U.S. also agreed to provide new 
language on contracting procedures to indicate that Bulgarian 
companies are eligible to bid on contracts (without, however, 
creating any obligations on the part of the U.S. to award 
contracts to Bulgarian entities).  The U.S. will also provide 
language on construction standards. 
 
4. (C) Several key issues remain to be resolved.  These 
include: 
 
a. Criminal Jurisdiction:  The Bulgarian team told Amb. 
Loftis that they had "already gone beyond" their mandate to 
negotiate on jurisdiction.  As in the previous negotiating 
session, the Bulgarians expressed concern that substantially 
agreeing to the U.S. request for a blanket advance waiver 
(with recall provisions) would open the final agreement to 
constitutional court challenges from opponents in Parliament. 
 Amb. Loftis noted that primary U.S. jurisdiction over U.S. 
service members had been granted by Parliament in temporary 
exercise support agreements (ESAs) on two occasions.  The 
Bulgarians termed the ESAs as "ad hoc" agreements that 
received little scrutiny.  While willing to waive criminal 
jurisdiction for the limited period of the exercises, the 
Bulgarians said they were not prepared to accept a permanent 
waiver.  The lead Bulgarian negotiator, Ambassador Lubomir 
Ivanov, stressed, "We need to discuss it (criminal 
jurisdiction) at a much higher level." 
b. Operational flexibility: While the two sides did not 
discuss this issue in detail during the plenary sessions, it 
arose in a private meeting between Amb. Loftis, Amb. Ivanov, 
Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Passy, and defense 
committee chairman Naidenov on November 16.  Noting 
constitutional restrictions on foreign forces, Naidenov asked 
if the U.S. planned to launch offensive military operations 
from Bulgarian territory.  Amb. Loftis said that the U.S. 
envisions having a maximum of only 2,500 troops in Bulgaria 
at any given time, an unlikely force for offensive actions. 
Amb. Loftis said that while the U.S. wants to find ways to 
accommodate Bulgaria's concerns, the U.S. requires the 
flexibility to move our forces where and when needed. 
Moreover, the proposed Bulgarian provision that would link 
the U.S. presence solely to NATO is unacceptable: this is a 
bilateral agreement.  During the closing of the plenary 
session, Amb. Ivanov again referred to pending legislation on 
foreign troop presence in Bulgaria, but noted that the GOB is 
willing to find a way to meet American concerns and is not 
wedded to its draft language. 
 
c. Strategic Framework: Ivanov reiterated the GOB's desire to 
include language for a "strategic framework" (see reftels A 
and B) noting that "such a structure would be more convincing 
to the public" and would help sell the agreement.  Ivanov 
said that the GOB is flexible in how this language is 
integrated into the agreement and would be open to "less 
detailed" provisions.  Amb. Loftis replied that the United 
States prefers separate, discrete agreements as more 
appropriate and easier to manage, but that we would consider 
the Bulgarian approach and discuss it in more detail at our 
next meeting. 
 
5. (C)  To move the taxation issue forward, a team of U.S. 
experts will visit Sofia in December to continue technical 
discussions on taxation, importation/exportation, contracting 
procedures and related issues.  The purpose is not/not to 
negotiate the texts, but to explain to Bulgarian authorities 
how the U.S. handles these issues with other partners.  Once 
the Bulgarians understand the mechanisms better, they will be 
in a better position to agree to language in the agreement. 
(This practice was immensely helpful in reaching agreement on 
the environmental, security and communications articles.) 
 
6. (C)  Ivanov was unexpectedly called away from the 
negotiating table on November 17 by Foreign Minister Kalfin 
to discuss a phone call from the Romanian foreign minister. 
The Romanians had heard a rumor that a U.S. official in 
Washington had said that the talks were not going well and 
that the U.S. delegation saw no reason to continue 
negotiating.  Amb. Loftis denied that any U.S. official had 
made such a statement and gave Ivanov a transcript of 
statements by Department spokesman Adam Ereli on November 16 
indicating that negotiations were proceeding well.  The 
Bulgarians were satisfied with this explanation. 
 
7. (C) Our public outreach plan, undertaken in October to 
counter misinformation, has had positive results.  We and the 
MFA have developed a joint public diplomacy strategy through 
which we share talking points and coordinate information 
posted on our respective web sites.  At our urging, Prime 
Minister Stanishev publicly stated his support November 4 for 
"the establishment of a rotating brigade stationed in 
Bulgaria and Romania."  During this visit, Amb. Loftis gave 
one newspaper interview and one television interview that 
were generally well-reported. 
 
8. (C) COMMENT: The talks proceeded in a friendly, 
constructive atmosphere.  As most technical issues have been 
substantially agreed to, the challenge in the next round will 
be to address criminal jurisdiction, operational flexibility, 
and the strategic framework.  Despite warnings from the 
Bulgarians to avoid anything that would be open to 
constitutional challenges, Ivanov signaled the GOB's desire 
reach agreement.  We will maintain our public diplomacy 
efforts and continue to urge influential Bulgarians, both in 
and out of government, to speak out in favor of the 
agreement.  END COMMENT. 
 
9. (U) This cable has been cleared with Ambassador Robert 
Loftis. 
BEYRLE