Press Roundtable With Croatian Journalists

QUESTION: Yes, and it was not like this before; even six months before. At that time I heard people complaining that everybody forgets about the Balkans and they are concentrated on Iraq or, I don't know, the Middle East, and then, all of a sudden, it's the focus here.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRIED: There is focus on the Balkans, but also, I think, everyone here realizes that the future for the Balkans has to be mainstreamed into Europe, which is what I said earlier. That in this decade the Balkans does, South Eastern Europe does, what Central and Eastern Europe did in the nineties. When the nineties started Central and Eastern Europe were in danger of becoming marginalized, a grey zone. And, thanks to three Presidents, American Presidents, and mainly the efforts of the countries themselves, the Europeans too, you have Central Europe largely over that process, and now it's the turn for the Balkans to go through that same process, and hopefully end up the same way. It will be in this decade, in the beginning of the next one that this process takes place, and I think everybody understands that.

QUESTION: I am from the AFP, Callin Neascu, spoke to you ...

ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRIED: Yes, that's right, yesterday.

QUESTION: We ran the story yesterday and today.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRIED: Oh, I didn't see it. How does it run? What was its lead?

QUESTION: The lead was that Serbia should lose its grip on Kosovo and turn towards the EU. Actually, that it should choose Europe instead of Kosovo.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRIED: Yeah, I mean, sad in a way, because it's hard for Serbia, but, you know, it's gone. It's like the Hungarians and the Vojvodina. It wasn't maybe their fault entirely, but it was Milosevic's. It's over.

QUESTION: He lost it.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRIED: Yeah, it wasn't Kostunica, but we are where we are. You can't, you don't get another chance. But we were talking about Croatia. And Croatia is, my sense is, and you know better than I do, because you live here, but my sense is that Croatia is beginning to realize slowly that there are no barriers between Croatia and a very good future. It means the EU, and NATO, and that Croatia has a clear road. Now, there are things it needs to do, but the challenges that Croatia faces are no different than the challenges every single Central European country has already faced or is facing.

You know, what, corruption? What? Yeah, it's everywhere in this part of the world. And you deal with it piece by piece. Institutions that don't function as well as they should. Well, what else is new in this part of the world? There is no problem that Croatia faces that it can't handle with good leadership, and, frankly, you are beginning to see it.

Croatia hosting this conference, the second year in a row, is a way of showing leadership which isn't at all high-handed, but is very responsible. And Croatia has brought together here some very senior people, all of whom are saying pretty much the same thing, which is that South Eastern Europe needs to be helped, and needs itself to move into the European mainstream, and that this is happening.

And, I think, everyone else is saying also that Kosovo and Serbia are the main, are the big single problem that has to be resolved, and that all the other problems are problems that are familiar to everyone who has watched post-communist transition, which is basically good news for Croatia; although, obviously, it's also in your interest to have the smooth settlement of the Kosovo problem.

QUESTION: We just learned that you had an allegedly very good meeting with the Croatian Prime Minister. Can you share with us some topics that you talked about?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRIED: Well, it was indeed a very good meeting. Ambassador Bradtke and I met with him. I know him, and respect him. We talked about the region, we talked about Kosovo, we talked about Europe's energy security, and the LNG facility that Croatia is planning to build. We talked about, well, there aren't really bilateral problems. We talked about the negotiations of the Status of Forces Agreement, the SOFA, which is in the last stages, and I think that will get resolved.

QUESTION: Do you think it will be resolved by the end of next month?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRIED: Oh, I have no idea. I don't know the details. I know that governments usually find the way to resolve these issues. I'm not going to negotiate it in public. But, I think this will be worked out in a satisfactory way. It's very clear that Croatia wants to see Serbia join Europe; that it wants to see Serbia as a successful country, with a European future. And that that's certainly what, my sense from every Croatian official I've ever spoken to is that the support for Serbia is very strong. This notion that Croatia would like to slam the door afterwards is just nonsense. And I think that that's a widely, my sense is that this is widely understood, and, as such, Croatia's position has a lot of support, because, clearly we can't see South Eastern Europe, which has a good future, without Serbia. If Serbia is in an angry, recalcitrant frame of mind, that's no good for anybody. It's no good for Serbia, but it's no good for anybody. So, we all need to help Serbia.

QUESTION: Does it mean that the international community and the United States will try to compensate Serbia for losing Kosovo in the nearest future? You have unfrozen your economic assistance.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRIED: I wouldn't say compensate, but I would certainly say Serbia deserves a European future. And it deserves the same support that we gave to every other country which has sought a European future in this part of the world.

QUESTION: Under the same conditions?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRIED: Well, the conditions are that, first of all, the country wants to join Europe. Secondly, that the country does the things necessary to join Europe. But, Serbia knows what they are, and it's not as if Serbia is starting from zero. Serbia has state institutions that function. It has a functioning democratic system, it has a military and a very reform-minded chief of the Armed Forces, General Ponos, it does have the makings of a very successful European country.

QUESTION: In other words, inclusive approach is much better than keeping them outside.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRIED: Of course. Nobody wants to keep Serbia outside. What good is that? That does nothing for anyone. Europe needs Serbia. I hope that Serbs understand that they need Europe.

QUESTION: What about Karadzic and Mladic? Even without them?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRIED: I'd like to focus on the positive, which is, we need to recognize that in recent weeks Serbia has done a lot on the issue of war criminals. There have been some arrests, there has been much more cooperation, and, therefore, Secretary Rice has been able to certify that Serbia was cooperating, which, as you said earlier, unfroze some economic assistance. But it also means that this blockage is now gone. Obviously, we want to see Mladic and Karadzic face justice. Another word, "kukavice" ["cowards"] comes to mind: People who hide behind the Serbian flag and pretend to be patriots who have done harm to their country. But, look, this is something we hope Serbia will work out.

QUESTION: There is a danger, I'm sorry to tell you, I really do think that Serbia deserves a European future, but, as you know, the Radical Party actually won at the last elections. It was really difficult for them to form a really democratic government, and there is a danger for Serbia to change orientation from the European Union and the Euro-Atlantic integration to Russia. Do you fear that?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRIED: I would say that every country that has emerged from communism faces populists and nationalists. It's not unique to Serbia. Every country did it. Look, in Croatia there was a nationalist movement and that movement changed, and now you have a center-right party, which is certainly European-oriented. You have ex-communist parties throughout this region transforming themselves into social-democrats and then winning elections. Right now, the Radical Party has a platform which is anti-European, and looking backward. It has not formed a government; it's in the opposition, and, I think, in the end, there is no future in this kind of a platform because it's not going to bring the nation anything.

It doesn't matter what we say; the Serbs are going to vote. They are going to choose their own future. We don't choose it for them. What we can do is make clear that the Serbian people are welcome in Europe; that we want them in Europe; that the United States is a friend of Serbia, not an enemy, and we will not be an enemy.

The tragedy of the breakup of Yugoslavia is still ongoing, because the Kosovo question is unresolved. And I said tragedy deliberately. I know I'm in Croatia, and, obviously, if Yugoslavia existed you wouldn't be a nation, but the way Yugoslavia broke up was through blood, and terrible. And, it was a terrible thing. But, we are where we are, and the important thing now is that Serbia has a European future.

QUESTION: You are still prepared to recognize Kosovo unilaterally?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRIED: I would put it this way: President Bush has made it clear that supervised independence for Kosovo through the Ahtisaari Plan is the way to go. We are working through the United Nations, through the Security Council. We have come up with a couple of resolutions so far, trying to meet Russian concerns. We are going to continue to work through this process at the UN, and I hope that we can find a formula that allows us to move forward.

The Sarkozy plan, the French idea of some negotiations through a limited time period, a set time period for negotiations, followed clearly, automatically, by the Ahtisaari plan if there is no other decision reached by the parties, made sense to us. I think whatever happens, there will be a period of some more negotiations, but in the end, I think and it's the position of my government that supervised independence is the only practical way forward. I realize I have not answered your question, but I think that, clearly, we can't stay where we are. We want to move forward, and we want to do this, if at all possible, through the Security Council.

QUESTION: The Secretary General has raised some concerns about the situation on the ground because of the delayed solution.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRIED: That was an important statement by the Secretary General. They know what they are talking about. And the message there is, don't listen just to the United States, listen to the Secretary General of the United Nations. We've got to move ahead. He was quite right, we think that he said was sound, and we give it respect. It means basically that the international community has to stand up, face its responsibilities, and do what it has to do.

QUESTION: Maybe we could go back to Croatia. Talking about our engagement, our troops in different missions in NATO, you know that our public is concerned about that.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRIED: Of course it is.

QUESTION: Is the United States going to ask Croatia to change its constitution in order for the government to be able to make these decisions without parliamentary approval for sending new troops to some other missions?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY FRIED: We do not dictate constitutional arrangements to democracies. This is something for Croatia to work out. It would not occur to us to tell Croatia how it should run its business.

t is true that NATO is not just a one-way street. It isn't just protection for Croatia; it is also Croatia's contribution to the common defense. That's how NATO works. Everyone gives something, everyone gets something. What Croatia gets is the power of NATO, including the power of the United States, so that Croatia knows it will never be attacked and be alone again. Not ever. Not ever. What Croatia gives is what it can give to common NATO missions. But no NATO mission without the unanimous consent of all NATO members. So, it's not as if Croatia doesn't have a voice. It's not as if Croatia is issued demands or instructions. This isn't the Warsaw Pact. This is NATO. Croatia sits at the table. Croatia gets an equal voice. That's what NATO membership means.

Hvala lijepo [Thank you very much].