Brussels, 11/04/2002 (Agence Europe) - Divergences persist between Member States over the usefulness of setting up a European network of national contact points for use when searching for people responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The relevant Council workgroup agreed last week on a simplified version of the Dutch proposal, but Germany, France, the UK, Ireland, Sweden, Austria and Greece are reserving the right to assess the general utility of the initiative since they have doubts about the usefulness of adopting and Council decision in an area where co-operation already exists based on international conventions and this can also be dealt with through Europol. The 25/26 April Justice and Home Affairs Council may decide on the issue. On Tuesday the European Parliament gave its support to the Dutch initiative, which has also been supported by the European Commission (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.16). The text that was approved by EU experts proposes to name a contact point in every Member State for exchanging information on investigations into genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. These contact points would be responsible for exchanging information in line with the relevant arrangements that exist been Member States. In August 2002, the Netherlands had proposed a more detailed and more binding text, covering the manner in which information was to be exchanged - the possibility in certain cases of making a formal request; conditions governing use of the information; and the obligation to give reasons for refusal. The Member States, according to the Dutch proposal, would pledge to be able to fully cooperate no later than one year after the adoption of the decision.