Luxembourg, 04/06/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 4 June, EU ministers for home affairs reached an agreement on the creation of an information exchange mechanism on possibly taking former detainees into a member state. This is the first concrete step to develop an official European response to US requests to take in former Guantanamo detainees declared as “releasable”. Martin Pecina, the Czech home affairs minister affirmed that, “we have created a technical framework to enable member states that wish to, to take in former detainees and ensure that they are not a security risk, in exchange for information about them”. Pecina added that, “these people are not criminals. This does not involve restricting their free movement”. The EU anti-terrorist coordinator Gilles de Kerchove declared that, “this decision will create an environment propitious to negotiations between the US and member states on taking in people considered innocent”. He added that, “it is very important to help president Obama, especially when he is having difficulties at Congress”. De Kerchove said that a European gesture could also have an impact on other partners, such as Canada and Australia.
Reception framework for former detainees. Several member states - France, Spain, United Kingdom, Portugal, Belgium and Lithuania have said they are prepared to take in former detainees. Others, like the Czech Republic, Netherlands and Austria are refusing to accept any of them. The European Commissioner for justice, security and freedom, Jacques Barrot, did indicate, however, that, “if every member state has the sovereign decision to take in former detainees or not, the European Union must set up a framework in which taking them in is done. Therefore, all member states benefitting from the Schengen Area have to be informed about decisions taken by others”. The information exchange mechanism approved by the Council includes a preliminary phase during which the host state will have to inform its partners about the profile of the person likely to be taken in and decisions involving the person in question. Secondly, member states will exchange experiences of each host country, in terms of security and communication with the public (further information: EUROPE 9909).
Security safeguards. Each member state will decide on the legal status to grant people taken in (refugee, temporary residency permit etc). Some countries, with Austria, Germany and Italy at the head of them, wanted to restrict the movements of these individuals, which would have benefited from the free movement of the Schengen area. Suddenly, minsters reached an agreement on each state that takes in a former detainee to take into account the concerns of the other countries and to avoid these individuals compromising pubic order or the internal security of these countries. Member states will therefore be able to take appropriate measures if necessary, which temporarily restrict free movement in their country. Article 25 of the Schengen Convention stipulates that a state can ban a person entering its territory. One diplomat stated that if a “former detainee does not pose risks in terms of security, he will be able to move freely around the Schengen area”. Although home affairs ministers agreed to launch the process for taking in certain former detains into EU countries, foreign affairs ministers are expected to adopt a joint EU-US declaration on closing down Guantanamo and future trans-Atlantic cooperation in fighting terrorism on 15 June. The ball will soon be in the court of the Americans. In this connection, the German minister, Wolfgang Schäuble warned the US to show an example and agree to take in some of the former detainees. He stated that if they do not pose a risk, they should explain why they cannot stay in the US. (B.C./trans/rh)