Brussels, 04/03/2008 (Agence Europe) - Should the European Union accept prisoners released from Guantanamo Bay? MEPs are divided over the matter, as was shown at a hearing at the European Parliament on Thursday 28 February. 275 prisoners are still being held without charge by the United States at Guantanamo Bay. 30 of them have been judged suitable for release by the US but are still in prison because they cannot be sent back to their countries of origin where they risk torture and persecution, and no other country is prepared to accept them. It is time for Europe to confirm its political desire to help the United States close this chapter of history, said Baroness Sarah Ludford (ALDE, UK). She said that in order to help the US get out of the hole they had dug themselves into, Europe should accept some of the detainees threatened by their countries of origin. Her idea did not receive unanimous backing, however. Why should Europe have to solve problems that the United States don't want to solve themselves?, asked Ewa Klamt (EPP-ED, Germany). The reluctance of some EU member states to accept Guantanamo refugees, explained Portuguese PES MEP Ana Maria Gomes, is due to these states' complicity in sending prisoners to Guantanamo in the first place. It is Europe's responsibly to prevent a potential humanitarian crisis, explained the president of the European Parliament's human rights sub-committee, French Greens/EFA MEP Hélène Flautre, at a press conference after the hearing. She said the EP should continue to put pressure on EU member states to get them to accept released prisoners at danger of deportation to counties that fail to respect human rights. To date, only Albania, the United Kingdom and Sweden have said they are willing to accept prisoners released from Guantanamo Bay. (B.C.)