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French Plan for Prisoners

EU Delegation Plans Guantanamo Trip

By Matthias Gebauer in Berlin

The EU is currently debating whether to provide asylum for former Guantanamo prisoners. While some countries are still grappling with their basic stance on the issue, France is already hammering out the details of a plan. The EU wants to evaluate each case individually and send a delegation to Cuba.

The European Union remains undecided on the issue of taking in former prisoners from the anti-terror prison at Guantanamo Bay. At a luncheon for the EU foreign ministers on Monday, the topic was discussed but no solution was reached. Germany, France and a number of other countries are at least open to the possibility.

After the luncheon, Austria was the only country that still flatly rejected the idea, while all other countries said that they wanted to wait for a formal request from the United States.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier of the left-leaning Social Democrats (SPD) defended his call to aid Washington. "We could do without taking in the prisoners," said Steinmeier, who will be his party's candidate for chancellor in this year's national election. But he also said that the decision on whether or not to back the efforts of the US to close the camp was a "question of credibility." Steinmeier received support for this position from Luxembourg and Finland.

Earlier, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana also showed a willingness to accept the former prisoners. "This is an American problem and they have to solve it, but we'll be ready to help, if necessary" he said in Brussels shortly before the gathering in Berlin. He pointed out that it was up to each individual EU member to decide, but he thought that the answer would be yes.

"Case by Case"

The French are already thinking one step further. Paris has presented a concrete organizational blueprint for taking in former prisoners. This plan would call for a "case-by-case" and "country-by-country" approach, with each land deciding whether it would accept former inmates, and which ones. At issue are 60 people who have been cleared for release after the US military classified them as innocent.

In a second step, an EU clearing authority would conduct a detailed evaluation of each case. Experts from the intelligence and security agencies in each country would review the American files, compare this with their own information and issue an assessment on any possible security risk. Only then could a decision be made on whether to take in a particular former detainee, and which country would accept him.

That plan may look good on paper, but it remains to be seen whether it can be implemented. A number of US officials who were stationed at Guantanamo in the past have reported that the military keeps absolutely chaotic records. In some cases, the documents contain nothing more than abstract notes. This would make it impossible for EU experts to conduct a meaningful evaluation.

An initial impression of what the EU can expect has been provided by papers released from Guantanamo that describe the cases of hundreds of prisoners. For the most part, these consist of single, standard letter-size pieces of paper, with plenty of small print and vague allegations, many of which have been blacked out. But, perhaps worst of all, it is totally unclear from these documents which US agency provided the evidence in the first place.

Everyone Accepted Could Freely Move throughout EU

The idea from France, however, should at least defuse the debate in Germany and, more importantly, ease the concerns of German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble of the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU). After making a number of harsh comments, Schäuble now says that he wouldn't say no if the US asked for help. In the event of a request, he insists that each case should be meticulously vetted -- and this is precisely the logical approach that the French plan proposes.

At the same time, the plan underscores divisions within the EU. While most countries are still debating the issue on a theoretical level, often disregarding the facts, Paris has proposed concrete steps. The French and the Germans have apparently grasped more quickly than other countries the importance of demonstrating to the new US administration a readiness to act and a willingness to cooperate -- instead of engaging in further EU internal squabbling.

An EU-wide, coordinated approach is necessary because border regulations make it impossible for each individual country to address the issue totally on its own. Released detainees would be granted refugee status by their host EU countries. Once this is done, they would be free to move unchecked throughout the Schengen area, where there are no border checks between countries. Even if some EU members refused to take them in, the former prisoners from Guantanamo would have no problems entering any particular country (except for the five EU states that have not implemented Schengen).

This explains why France is pouring on the pressure. Already in the run-up to the summit, Paris was pushing for the EU to tackle the problem instead of just talking about it. "We have to know who exactly we are talking about," said an EU diplomat. This is precisely why EU Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security Jacques Barrot and EU counterterrorism coordinator Gilles de Kerckhove plan to travel to Guantanamo to talk with military officials.