Brussels, 27/01/2005 (Agence Europe) - The European Union is planning to train Iraqi police and magistrates in the as part of its cooperation with the USA supporting Iraqi reconstruction. An initial discussions between Member States on this proposal took place this week at the Policy and Security Committee (COPS) and according to diplomats, the “proposal does not appear to have encountered insurmountable problems”. On Monday, the External Relations Council is expected to refer to the issue during lunch, which will be focusing on the Iraqi but a substantial debate is expected to take place between foreign affairs ministers a the Council on 21 February on the eve of US president George W. Bush's visit.
Diplomats explained that the idea of providing training to the legal and police services in Iraq had already been launched in autumn 2004, following the visit by a mission of European experts in charge of identifying the areas in which the EU could help to the reconstruction of the country. In practice, this will involve training 700-800 people (magistrates, judges, leaders and the police trainers, prison governors etc). Project details have not yet been discussed, but it appears that the training courses will be given in EU Member States or in countries neighbouring Iraq and not in Iraq itself.