Brussels, 22/08/2002 (Agence Europe) - The USA is continuing its efforts to establish bilateral agreements with a maximum number of countries whereby the latter pledge not to extradite US soldiers present on their territory if requested by the International Criminal court (ICC). The Danish Presidency confirmed that all EU Member States have been contacted by the USA but was not able to elaborate on the matter for candidate countries, with the exception of the Baltic countries (Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia), where Danish Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen had made a visit on Monday. However, Cyprus, Malta, Slovakia and Croatia confirmed to EUROPE that they had been contacted, which suggests that this has been the case for all the other candidate countries. A Spokesperson for the State Department declared last week that the USA were seeking to, "conclude these agreements with many other countries" via Ambassador level contacts. The European Commission is currently analysing the legal implications of these agreements in order to determine the official position of the EU at the meeting between Commission legal experts and representatives from Member States on 4 September in Brussels.
Israel (which is not part of the ICC) and Romania have already singed such an agreement (see EUROPE on 10 August p 2). Several EU spokespersons have indicated that other candidate countries would not follow Romania's example. A Council spokesperson explained that, "Even if these countries legally have the right to reach such agreements with the US, it does pose a problem at a level of Community solidarity". Although the EU has not officially requested candidate countries to be consulted, "we would like candidate countries to consult us before taking a decision in order to find out the legal implications of these agreements from the point of view of their participation in the EU", the spokesperson added. Lithuania, Croatia, Alta and Cyprus informed EUROPE that they were waiting for the official position of the EU before they responded to US requests. A Council spokesperson explained that with regard to Romania, "An incoherence exists between the common position adopted by the EU on the ICC, to which the countries of Central and Eastern Europe are associated, including Romania, and which implies their commitment to the objectives and statue of the ICC and signing a bilateral agreement with the USA, which goes against one of these objectives"