Dresden, 15/01/2007 (Agence Europe) - There was no general agreement among the twenty seven EU Member States at the informal JHA Council in Dresden on Monday on the draft regulation, known as “Rome III”, on cross-border divorces. “A number of Member States have expressed doubts about this proposal, when unanimity is needed on this issue,” a diplomatic source said. German justice minister Brigitte Zypries felt, however, that the obstacles could be overcome. Before the meeting, several countries (the United Kingdom, Ireland, Sweden and Poland) had already expressed their lack of enthusiasm for the proposal (see EUROPE 9342). “The problem is that some Member States do not want to apply the law of another Member State,” said Ms Zypries. This is a concern particularly for the island of Malta, where there is no legal divorce. Maltese authorities refuse categorically to allow that one of their courts is required to grant a divorce to non-nationals resident in Malta through an extra-national law. Two initiatives were launched by the Commission last July: the “Rome III” proposal and the green paper on succession and wills, which is likely to lead to a legislative initiative between the end of 2007 and the start of 2008 (see EUROPE 9234). In these two areas, Ms Zypries noted that “every country agrees that there are problems and that the situation has to be improved”. This backs up the recent Euro-barometer finding that 80% of people in the EU want European certification on inheritance law. (bc)