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### Viewing cable 05SOFIA1796, PROGRESS ON U.S. MILITARY ACCESS, BUT TOUGH ISSUES

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
05SOFIA1796 | 2005-10-17 14:11 | 2011-05-17 16:00 | CONFIDENTIAL | Embassy Sofia

`

    This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

` `

    C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SOFIA 001796

    SIPDIS

    E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/17/2015
    TAGS: MARR PGOV PREL BU
    SUBJECT: PROGRESS ON U.S. MILITARY ACCESS, BUT TOUGH ISSUES
    REMAIN

    REF: SOFIA 0924

    Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Jeffrey D. Levine, for reasons 1.4 a a
    nd d.

    ¶1. (C) SUMMARY:  A negotiating team led by Ambassador Robert
    Loftis made significant progress toward concluding a
    supplemental Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with the GOB
    during talks in Sofia October 6-7.  Significant work remains
    to be done, however, in the areas of freedom of movement and
    criminal jurisdiction, both of which are of prime importance
    to the United States.  Following up on the team's first visit
    to Sofia May 16-17 (reftel), U.S. and Bulgarian negotiators
    discussed a revised U.S. supplemental SOFA proposal, proposed
    GOB revisions to the supplemental, and the GOB's
    significantly revised draft of the Defense Cooperation
    Agreement (DCA).  The GOB initially indicated its desire to
    include in the DCA language covering a much larger sphere of
    security cooperation than that envisioned by the U.S., but
    agreed to set the treatment of these issues aside for the
    moment.  Press coverage of the talks was uncharacteristically
    negative, indicating that opponents -- perhaps including
    third countries -- seek an opportunity to derail them.  END
    SUMMARY.

    ¶2. (C) The leader of the Bulgarian negotiating team,
    Ambassador Lubomir Ivanov, told Amb. Loftis that the GOB
    wished to discuss a wide range of topics in addition to the
    supplemental Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) and Defense
    Cooperation Agreement (DCA), including cooperative research
    and development, expanded relations between scientific and
    technical communities, and a framework for political-military
    consultations.  He noted that in drafting their versions of
    the DCA and Supplemental SOFA they had relied on other
    agreements that the USG had entered into with other NATO
    allies (e.g., Turkey and Spain).  Amb. Loftis explained that
    such topics are outside his mandate, which is limited to
    status and access issues.  Ivanov agreed to negotiate those
    items within Amb. Loftis' mandate with the understanding that
    discussions on the broader issues are necessary because "we
    have to be politically able to explain the full range of
    activities covered by our cooperation."

    ¶3. (C) After a long interlude necessitated by the Bulgarian
    elections in June and a two-month delay in forming a new
    ruling coalition, SOFA/DCA negotiations resumed October 6 and
    ¶7.  Over the course of two days of detailed negotiations, the
    delegations made substantial progress on language in the SOFA
    and discussed generally the Defense Cooperation Agreement.
    The Bulgarians largely agreed to the U.S. positions on
    taxation and import/export.  They also moved toward the U.S.
    position on environmental protections and the status of
    contractors. A number of challenges remain in the following
    areas:

    a. Criminal Jurisdiction: The GOB does not want to give the
    impression that it is surrendering sovereignty.  Ivanov said
    that the standard U.S. language would be a "problem of
    presentation" and would be difficult to explain to the
    public, a majority of whom would oppose the perceived limits
    on Bulgarian sovereignty.  Specifically, the Bulgarians do
    not want to grant an advance waiver of criminal jurisdiction,
    which is a standard provision in our bilateral Supplemental
    SOFAs with NATO allies.  Instead, the Bulgarians proposed
    language indicating that upon request by the U.S. military,
    it would waive its primary right to exercise jurisdiction
    except in cases of particular importance and that such a
    request for waiver would be considered granted if the MOJ had
    not notified the U.S. military of its granting of the request
    or requested clarification in 30 days of receipt of the
    waiver request.

    b. Freedom of Movement: In their draft of the DCA, the
    Bulgarians limited use of facilities to training and
    exercises and military operations under the NATO umbrella and
    required prior notification. For activities outside of the
    NATO framework, the use of facilities would be subject to
    prior authorization by the competent Bulgarian authorities.
    Their draft also proposed a limit on the number of U.S.
    personnel who could be "stationed" in Bulgaria.  Amb. Loftis
    explained that language addressing deployments was a critical
    issue and stressed the need for maximum flexibility for any
    U.S. forces in Bulgaria.

    ¶4. (C) In the days leading up to the U.S. delegation's
    arrival, the Bulgarian media ran news reports claiming that
    the U.S. wanted to establish large "military zones" around
    the commercial port of Burgas that would severely limit
    commercial shipping activity.  This prompted three members of
    Parliament from Burgas to send a letter of inquiry to the
    MFA.  In response to Amb Ivanov's request for clarification,
    we assured him that the U.S. was only interested in
    periodically shipping military cargo through Burgas'
    commercial port and we had no plans to establish a naval base
    there.

    ¶5. (C) After the end of formal negotiations, Ambassador
    Loftis and DCM Levine met privately with Ambassador Ivanov to
    discuss the way forward.  Amb. Loftis stressed again the
    importance of freedom of movement and criminal jurisdiction
    to the success of the negotiations.  He also cautioned Amb.
    Ivanov against continuing to cite old bilateral agreements
    between the U.S. and other NATO countries, noting that they
    were designed for situations in which the U.S. had stationed
    large numbers of troops and were at any rate not well suited
    to the current strategic situation.  Amb. Ivanvov reiterated
    that Bulgaria wants to conclude the agreements and improve
    its cooperation with the U.S., but also that he is under
    instructions to both protect Bulgaria's sovereignty and to
    widen the cooperation with the U.S. as far as possible.

    ¶6. (C) On October 7, Amb. Loftis briefed a joint meeting of
    senior members of Parliament's defense and foreign affairs
    committees.  Without getting into the details of the
    negotiations, Amb. Loftis gave the parliamentarians a brief
    description of the Global Defense Posture Realignment and how
    it relates to Bulgaria, stressing that the U.S. is seeking
    access to Bulgarian facilities and has no desire to establish
    its own military bases in Bulgaria.  The committee's
    leadership asked about industrial cooperation, strategic
    consultations, and financial arrangements.  Amb. Loftis
    responded that his mandate is to negotiate status and access
    agreements, but the USG might be willing to separately
    consider these and other questions outside the scope of the
    two agreements.  He said that the U.S. pays its own way but
    does not pay rent for access to bases, and that freedom of
    movement is a key U.S. consideration.  The parliamentary
    reaction was generally positive, but the  leader of the
    extreme nationalist Ataka party, Volen Siderov, took the
    opportunity to grandstand, saying that the U.S. military
    presence would expose Bulgaria to attack and calling for a
    referendum on the proposed agreements.

    ¶7. (C) Press coverage of the Loftis visit was more negative
    than expected.  While the body of most articles was more or
    less factually correct, headlines in the two largest dailies
    focused on the fact that the U.S. would not pay for the use
    of Bulgarian facilities and would not ask permission to
    launch military strikes from Bulgarian territory (sic).  Some
    of our Bulgarian contacts have suggested that the Russian
    embassy in Sofia may be encouraging Ataka and influencing
    press coverage of the issue.  The ground for such measures is
    undeniably fertile; a tracking poll commissioned by the
    Embassy in September showed that 61 percent of Bulgarians
    oppose "U.S. bases" on their territory.

    ¶8. (C) COMMENT:  With a new government having taken power
    since the last negotiating session in May, the Bulgarian side
    started these talks almost from zero.  The talks, however,
    proceeded in a businesslike manner and resulted in
    substantial progress on many articles of the SOFA
    Supplemental.  Ivanov and others in the government have also
    stressed their determination to reach agreement.  Siderov's
    outburst and the negative press spin highlight the need for
    sustained public diplomacy on our part, and even more so on
    the part of the Bulgarian government.  We are working on a
    public outreach plan (op-eds, interviews, visits to regions
    where military bases to which we would like access are
    located) to counter the disinformation, and will press the
    government to develop its own public-education campaign as
    well.  In particular, it will be critical to dispel public
    misperceptions, fueled at times by the government's own
    comments, that the U.S. intends to establish large military
    bases in Bulgaria. END COMMENT.

    ¶9. (U) This cable has been cleared by Ambassador Robert
    Loftis.
    LEVINE

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