BRUSSELS INSISTS ON ZAGREB'S COMPLIANCE WITH EU PRINCIPLES IN TREATY WITH U.S.

ZAGREB, May 29 (Hina) - The European Union does not ask of Croatia to turn down the United States' request for signing a bilateral agreement on the non-extradition of Americans to the International Criminal Court (ICC), but to "take into account the EU Council Conclusions and Guiding Principles" when formulating its response to the request, notes a letter Brussels sent to Zagreb. #L# "As a country with which the EU enjoys close and developing relations, you are invited to take into account the EU Council Conclusions and Guiding Principles when formulating your response to the U.S. requests for the conclusion of bilateral agreements," read the letter, which Croatian Foreign Minister Tonino Picula received on Wednesday. An identical letter, signed by the EC High Commissioner for External Relations, Chris Patten, and the chairman of the Council of the European Union, Georgios Papandreou, was sent to other countries in the Western Balkans. The guiding principles are formulated so as to preserve the integrity of the ICC Statute and "ensure respect for the obligations of State parties under the Statute". They are designed also "to prevent impunity for persons committing crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court". The principles, harmonised last September at a meeting of the EU ministerial council, "offer guidance on the acceptable bounds within which any agreement should be contained". Some of the EU Guiding Principles, cited in an annex to the letter, read that "entering into US agreements - as presently drafted - would be inconsistent with ICC States Parties' obligations with regard to the ICC Statute and may be inconsistent with other international agreements to which ICC State Parties are Parties". As regards no impunity, "any solution should include appropriate operative provisions ensuring that persons who have committed crimes falling within the jurisdiction of the Court do not enjoy impunity". In addition, there is a part of the letter which reads that "any solution should only cover persons who are not nationals of an ICC State Party". The letter points out the importance of the existing international agreements, particularly those between ICC State Parties and the United States regarding legal and police cooperation, including the matter of extradition. It is also noted that any solution has to include provisions of the Rome Statute on diplomatic immunity and should cover only persons present on the territory of a State which is requested by the ICC to conduct extradition, in compliance with Article 98 of the Rome Statute. An agreement could contain "a termination or revision clause limiting the period in which the arrangement is in force". The United States is trying to obtain bilateral agreements that cover all its citizens, without any exception. Article 98 of the Rome Statute, which served as the basis to establish the ICC, envisages a possible agreement on non- extradition with a country which is not an ICC State Party. Croatian Deputy Foreign Minister Ivan Simonovic has said a special U.S. delegation will arrive in Zagreb next week to negotiate with the Croatian side on the bilateral treaty. Yesterday, the U.S. Ambassador to Zagreb, Lawrence Rossin, sent a letter to the Croatian daily Vjesnik stating that there were no legal barriers to the conclusion of the non-extradition agreement given that such a document was not contrary either to the letter or spirit of the Rome Statute. The US diplomat wrote that 35 countries in the world had so far signed the treaty with the United States, and added that their number would increase as negotiations on the issue were being held. Explaining his country's decision not to join the ICC State Parties, Rossin said the Rome Statute was full of serious omissions and contained no mechanism for the prevention of politically motivated investigations and prosecution of US nationals. On the other hand, the EU Council believes that "the Rome Statute provides all necessary safeguards against the use of the Court for politically motivated purposes". Ambassador Rossin said it was a sovereign right of the United States not to expose its nationals to the jurisdiction of an organisation which it believes is burdened by numerous omissions and discrimination and weakens the set norms of international law. The ambassador warned that in case Croatia failed to sign the treaty or was not given the presidential waiver by 1 July, it could lose military assistance, worth 19 million dollars, in line with the American Servicemembers' Protection Act (ASPA). Concerning the ethical dilemma the Croatian government is faced with -- to extradite its nationals to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and guarantee the non- extradition of Americans to the ICC -- Rosin said this was a strong argument when looked at superficially, however, the two issues were like night and day. To corroborate this statement, he said the ICTY had been established by the UN Security Council, which entailed compulsory cooperation, while the ICC had been founded with the voluntary entry of the countries, but the United States did not joined them. (hina) ms sb