Brussels, 11/09/2002 (Agence Europe) - "Work continues, everyone is seeking a common European position for the General Affairs Council of 30 September", assure all European diplomats on the question of the US request to see their nationals exempted from proceedings at the International Criminal Court (ICC). Unofficially, some diplomats criticise the United Kingdom which considers that, in addition to the three conditions established by EU15 jurists last week (see EUROPE of 5 September, p.7), each should be free to act as it sees fit, and therefore to conclude an agreement with the United States. British diplomats refuse to comment on this information. Last week, a group of EU15 jurists had determined three impassable "red lines": 1) not to agree to an exemption concerning all US citizens and limit the categories of persons concerned to a maximum; 2) call for a guarantee that the person charged would be judged in his own country; 3) not allow the Fifteen to use a bilateral agreement in order to call for a derogation in return for their own nationals. At the Gymnich meeting in Elsinore, on 30 and 31 August, the Fifteen had given themselves one month in which to reach a common position. The United States under George Bush, which cancelled the US signature of the Treaty establishing the Court (which had been signed by Bill Clinton) are now urging the countries that ratified the treaty to agree, with a bilateral agreement, to American nationals not being judged by the ICC. The ICC treaty took effect on 1 July. In practical terms, the Court should begin its work towards March 2003, in The Hague, in the Netherlands. Europeans will meet the US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, on Friday in New York, on the fringe of the United Nations General Assembly to seek to reach an agreement on this issue.