Brussels, 26/04/2010 (Agence Europe) - Member states want to adopt a negotiating brief swiftly so that discussions can begin with the Council of Europe on EU accession to the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR), Spanish Justice Minister Francisco Caamaño Domingez said on Friday 23 April. “EU accession to the ECHR is a priority. We hope to be in a position to be able to adopt a negotiating mandate in June with a view to opening negotiations rapidly thereafter,” he stated. At the moment, however, there remain “technical difficulties” that have to be ironed out, he added. The first of these relates to the “co-defender” mechanism which allows a defendant member state to invite the EU to join the proceedings at the European Court of Human Rights as “co-defendant”. Several countries take the view that the EU should not intervene every time a member state is a party. The second difficulty relates to the maintenance of the monopoly of the EU Court of Justice on the application and interpretation of Community law. A further problem concerns whether the EU should accede not only to the Convention itself, but also to its additional protocols, and if so, to which of these protocols. In general, member states are willing to delay this debate until a later date, once negotiations have begun. The final problem is in deciding who will conduct negotiations. Here, member states are ready to give the Commission full authority, except on points relating to the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), on which they wish to negotiate jointly. (B.C./transl.rt)