Brussels, 19/03/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 17 March, the United States proposed an agreement with the European Union on a memorandum of understanding that would facilitate the possible hosting in Europe of former inmates of the Guantanamo prison. During their visit to Washington, however, European Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot and Czech Interior Minister Ivan Langer said they needed to have all of the information concerning the detainees before they could come to a conclusion.
United States asks for help. Until now, Washington had not officially asked Europe, except Spain, to take in the prisoners. The first direct plea for assistance was made on Monday 16 March by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. “We would hope to have the cooperation of European governments”, she said during a visit to Ireland. “We will need help because many of the detainees cannot safely, for themselves or others, be sent back to the countries from which they came”, said Ms Clinton. On 12 March she had appointed the outgoing under secretary of state for European affairs, Daniel Fried, to convince Europeans to take in the former Guantanamo detainees. It was, however, during the visit to Washington by the European delegation that the American request formally materialised. “The US raised the issue of a memorandum of understanding between the EU and the US to provide a common framework within which individual countries can take their decisions on whether to admit former Guantanamo detainees”, Barrot indicated, going on to add: “This could represent a first formal starting point for EU countries to further discuss the issue of the reinstallation of former Guantanamo prisoners in a coordinated way”. The final decision regarding the taking in of former inmates will be up to each member state but, given the freedom of movement prevailing in the Schengen Area, the EU hopes to act in a coordinated manner. Ivan Langer described the American offer as “entirely new” and said it will be discussed at the highest level during the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 6 and 7 April in Luxembourg.
Maximum information. Before deciding to adopt a definite approach to the matter, Europeans would like guarantees regarding the situation of detainees and information on the reasons for their arrest. Langer stressed that the delegation had “a mandate not to negotiate but to receive, to get maximum information” on the individuals concerned. It therefore gave the US administration under President Barack Obama a list of questions with a view to studying the possibility of housing about 60 foreigners - out of the 242 still detained - against whom the United States does not wish to take action to prosecute and who cannot be sent back to their countries of origin. Europeans want, for example, to understand how the United States has reached the “conclusion that detainees are (no longer) dangerous”. They also want to know the difference between a detainee “ready to be released” and a detainee “ready to be transferred” but also wish to know the number of detainees wanting to be hosted by the EU, and the timetable scheduled for their release. The most important question concerns the sharing of confidential information on detainees that can be released. Europeans need to be reassured that “past errors will not be repeated”, Barrot explained, saying that he had evoked the issue at Bagram prison in Afghanistan. In a press release, the Department of Justice specified that US Secretary for Justice Eric Holder would provide information of a kind that would help EU member states to form an opinion on the situation of detainees. Europeans, on the other hand, made it clear to their interlocutors that they did not intend to cause friction with China by taking in the 17 Ouïgours who were proclaimed innocent in 2003 and who are held separately. They have lived in the hope of finding a host country for the past five years.
Data protection/visas. Jacques Barrot and Ivan Langer also spoke with American authorities about an agreement on the protection of privacy of personal data. “The progress made by the high level working group must be a step forward towards a real international agreement that will provide a framework of guarantees and protection for the exchange of personal data”, the commissioner said, hoping that revision of the Passenger Name Record (PNR) agreement would be rapidly initiated within this framework. On the subject of the five European Union countries (Greece, Romania, Poland, Bulgaria and Cyprus) that are still subject to visa requirements in order to travel to the United States, Barrot said: “This problem must be resolved and it must be resolved fast”. The last dossier on which Europeans insisted was that of the fight against terrorism and international organised crime, in the context of respect of human rights. In this context, Barrot announced the forthcoming setting in place of joint working groups with the Americans in order to improve cooperation and prosecute criminals who use new technologies to promote terrorism and extremism, and also to facilitate the sexual exploitation of children. All these dossiers will be on the agenda again during the EU-US ministerial troika on justice and home affairs to be held on 27-28 April in Prague. (B.C./transl.jl)