US embassy cable - 03ZAGREB1365

C O N F I D E N T I A L  ZAGREB 001365 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/13/2013 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, EU, HR 
SUBJECT: MESIC SPEECH AT EMBASSY OPENING FAILS TO BOOST 
BILATERAL RELATIONS 
 
REF: ZAGREB 1296 
 
Classified By: Poloff A.F.Godfrey for reasons 1.5 (B,D) 
 
 1.  (C) On June 13, President Mesic attended the ceremonial 
opening of the new U.S. Embassy in Zagreb.  The Ambassador 
used the festive occasion to declare that the imposing, 
state-of-the art chancery is a concrete example of the United 
States' long-term commitment to Croatia.  Rather than use his 
remarks on this occasion to step away from GoC actions which 
have harmed the bilateral relationship (ref), the approach 
and tone of Mesic's speech was disappointing and open to 
interpretation.  While he did note some positive elements of 
the U.S. - Croatia relationship, he also raised contentious 
subjects like the U.S. use of sanctions to punish other 
states, the possibility that the U.S. would seek to 
marginalize the UN or seek to slow the progress of EU 
unification.  While Mesic rejected the idea that "the U.S. 
would even think about" these actions, he seemed to be 
conveying his doubts about U.S. policies.  Mesic went on to 
re-assert Croatia's sovereignty and declared that the U.S. 
should accept "a Croatia which uses its own head much more 
than a Croatia reduced to a subservient role." 
 
2.  (C) Our GoC interlocutors were quick to point out that 
Mesic does not represent the formal position of PM Racan's 
government.  Indeed, since Mesic was elected, he has been a 
willing partner with the Government in limiting the role of 
Croatia's presidency in an effort to prevent recurrence of 
the excesses of the Tudjman regime.  Croatia's President now 
plays more of a ceremonial role, and his statements are at 
times less nuanced than the GoC positions; that was certainly 
the case last month when he called U.S. action in Iraq 
"illegitimate." 
 
3.  (C) After the Embassy ceremony, we called President 
Mesic's Foreign Policy Adviser Tomislav Jakic (the likely 
author of the speech) to express our dissatisfaction with the 
message delivered.  We told him -- and other GoC 
interlocutors -- that we thought the occasion and location 
was inappropriate for such an ambiguous and condescending 
message.  We also told him the message itself was wrong and 
unhelpful.  Jakic was defensive, saying the speech was 
intended to reject unequivocally the criticisms of U.S. 
policy, but said he would inform the president. 
 
4.  (U) Begin text of Mesic address: 
 
Ambassador Rossin, 
Distinguished members of the Diplomatic Corps, 
Distinguished guests, 
Ladies and gentlemen, 
 
I am pleased to be able to attend the ceremonial opening of 
the new Embassy of the United States of America in the 
Republic of Croatia.  I wanted to be here today in order to 
affirm in this way as well Croatia's friendly feelings 
towards the United States.  And I also wanted to see at close 
range and visit this impressive structure.  This is the best 
response to all those who speculate about the United States 
losing interest in this part of the world and in Croatia. 
 
Our two countries have long-standing relations.  They can be 
traced to the fairly distant past, to the time when many 
Croats and people from Croatia, then part of the 
Austro-Hungarian Empire, left in order to seek a place in the 
sun on the other side of the ocean, in the New World.  There 
is no need to recall the names of famous individuals who have 
come from our lands and made a significant contribution to 
the development and progress of the United States. 
 
Similarly, there is no need to recall what the United States 
had done on the global scale, but also within the scope of 
our bilateral relations, in promoting democracy, freedom and 
human rights.  Let me repeat: there is no need to recall all 
that, because we know it.  I would simply like to say the 
following: Croato-American relations have always been, and 
will be, relations of taking and giving on both sides. 
 
Of course, our relations have passed through different 
phases, they have seen their ups and downs.  But at any 
moment we in Croatia have seen and experienced ourselves as 
sincere friends of the United States. 
 
There have been and there are no anti-American feelings in 
Croatia.  We have always been and we are friends of the 
 
 
United States.  However, just as in any relations, it takes 
two to sustain relations of friendship.  In other words, the 
United States also ought to understand that our friendship is 
sincere and durable even when our thinking about a particular 
issue may differ from the thinking in Washington, D.C. 
 
We know that the United States has been the firm mainstay of 
the free world.  Therefore, we know that this excludes the 
possibility that the United States might even think of 
punishing any of its friends, with whom it shares the same 
values and ideals, for remaining true to the fundamental 
tenets of international relations - the freedom of 
individuals and nations and their full equality. 
 
We know that the United States played an irreplaceable role 
in the foundation of the United Nations, and that it should 
be given the credit, perhaps more than anybody else, for the 
sustenance of the world organization in times and conditions 
which were anything but propitious.  Therefore, we reject any 
thought that the United States could even think of 
marginalizing the global organization or even refrain from 
supporting it and thereby endanger its very survival. 
 
We know that the project of united Europe, in the difficult 
and extremely dangerous times of the cold war and of the 
East-West confrontation, could not even have started without 
the sincere and full support of the great ally on the other 
side of the Atlantic.  Therefore, we believe that any 
speculations according to which the United States does not 
regard European unification with the same enthusiasm with 
which its supported that millennial project for decades to be 
absurd and utterly unfounded. 
 
Today Croatia sees and realizes its place in the world within 
the circle of democratic countries, in the ranks of the 
global antiterrorist coalition, in the United Nations, and 
tomorrow - both in the European Union and the NATO.  We have 
never pursued our foreign policy by relying now on this 
country, or group of countries, and now on another. 
 
In line with the same principles, we want to have equally 
good relations with all countries, large and small, powerful 
and less powerful ones alike. 
 
We are aware of our European identity but also our global 
orientation. 
 
We are aware, of course, of the specific role and place of 
the United States in the world in which we live.  It is 
therefore completely clear that one of our foreign policy 
priorities is the continuation and broadening of good 
relations and even of alliance with the United States. 
 
But we are an independent, sovereign state, and until we 
transfer, by our own free will, part of our sovereignty to 
the European Union, we shall make our own decisions, bearing 
in mind first and foremost the interest and welfare of our 
citizens - over the short and long term alike. 
 
We shall always be ready to listen to others, but we also 
expect others to be sensitive to us.  Knowing the history of 
the United States, we are certain that it will best 
understand such a position and know to appreciate a Croatia 
which uses its own head much more than a Croatia reduced to a 
subservient role. 
 
Let me take this opportunity to convey cordial and friendly 
greetings to President George Bush and to the American people. 
Let me also wish the diplomatic representative of the United 
States, who will now work in this modern and impressive 
building at the outskirts of our capital, a pleasant 
performance of their duties in this traditionally friendly 
environment, geared to the continuous progress and 
development of ever better, mutually beneficial relations 
between our two countries. 
End Text. 
ROSSIN 
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