POLITICS-ROMANIA: A Hard Choice Between EU and the U.S.

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Marian Chiriac

BUCHAREST, Sep 27 2002 (IPS) - Romania finds itself caught in a dispute between the European Union and the United States over support to the newly formed International Criminal Court (ICC).

The ICC was set up to prosecute people accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes after July 1 this year when it came into being. The ICC is mandated to intervene only when a country is unable to try a suspect or lacks the political will to do so.

So far 139 countries have signed the founding treaty of the ICC but only 81 have ratified it. Most member states of the European Union (EU) are among its strongest supporters, but the U.S. withdrew from the treaty fearing it could expose American troops to politically motivated cases and undercut antiterrorism efforts.

The Bush administration withdrew its signature in April and sought to limit the scope of the treaty by signing “exemption agreements” with various countries that would place American personnel outside the jurisdiction of the court in those countries.

Article 98 of the ICC’s statute allows signatory countries to refuse to hand over citizens serving abroad to the court if doing so would clash with another international agreement. It is this provision that the U.S. has been keen to exploit.

Romania became the first country to sign such an immunity agreement with the U.S. last month. Eleven other countries followed, including Israel, East Timor, Afghanistan and Tajikstan.

Romania, which has been in a hurry to join NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) but is not an early candidate for the EU, has been condemned by EU leaders based at Brussels in Belgium for the agreement with the U.S.

“We believed that Romania rushed in to sign the agreement and this has caused concern in Brussels,” Romano Prodi, president of the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, said Thursday. In another statement Thursday the European Parliament advised aspiring EU members, including Romania, not to enter into agreements shielding U.S. troops from prosecution..

Romanian authorities admit they made a mistake in not consulting with EU officials at the “highest political level”, and say that steps are under way to correct that error. At a meeting with Prodi on Thursday, Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Nastase agreed he would not take any further steps until the EU adopts a common position on the ICC.

“Romania considers that future consultations between the EU and U.S. will clarify the problems that occurred, and after that the agreement signed by Romania will be absorbed in a package to be decided later on,” Nastase said.

Diplomatic sources told IPS that the Romanian Parliament will not ratify the bilateral agreement signed with the U.S. and that Romania will finally comply with the EUâÇÖs position on the ICC.

Officials say that until Romania becomes a member of the EU, it must have the freedom to make decisions based on its self-interest. But they are nevertheless waiting anxiously for a common EU position on the ICC. “We are obviously very interested in finding out what Brussels will decide, because if such a common position had been reached before Romania signed the agreement with the U.S., matters would have taken a different course,” says RomaniaâÇÖs chief EU negotiator Vasile Puscas.

“The decision to comply with the U.S. request was an opportunity to bolster relations with the U.S.,” says President Ion Iliescu. “Criticism from the EU is a new phenomenon that we are facing. We did not expect it, but we’ll have to learn to deal with both sides.”

Most of the public commentary on the ICC has focused on Romania’s balancing act between the U.S. and the EU, with little serious debate about the international legal issues at stake.

“Romania is in a particularly difficult position because it seeks of its own accord to join both NATO – where Washington has a decisive voice – and the EU, which is not fond of having its wishes disregarded,” says journalist Mircea Zamfir. In the months ahead, analysts say Romanian diplomacy will have to manoeuvre carefully between these larger and not always benevolent powers..