BRUSSELS -- Germany said it won't exempt U.S. citizens from the authority of the International Criminal Court, a decision that could further strain U.S.-German relations.
Foreign ministers from the European Union's 15 member-nations agreed Monday to allow individual members to give U.S. military and civilian personnel on their territory immunity from the tribunal. While Germany didn't object to the compromise, it did signal that it won't sign the immunity agreement the U.S. has asked its allies to endorse.
Still, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer called the EU compromise "very important" because it would preserve the integrity of the court.
Germany hosts a large U.S. military contingent, making Berlin's refusal to accept the U.S. request for ICC immunity all the more sensitive for Washington. U.S.-German relations have been tense recently, particularly wounded when Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder ruled out German participation in any U.S. military strike against Iraq.
German officials said the refusal to exempt the U.S. from the ICC wasn't intended as a slight. To give in to the U.S. "would make us lose our credibility" as a staunch supporter of the court, said one German official.
German diplomats said the U.S. shouldn't worry because the legal standing of American troops in Germany is covered by special "status of forces" agreements, which already provide limited immunity from national prosecutions.
Other European countries have taken a less-confrontational stance. Britain and Italy, for instance, have said they would be receptive to immunity deals.
The U.S. never ratified the treaty that created the ICC, fearing the court could be used in politically motivated prosecutions of American officials abroad at a time when the U.S. military presence around the world is growing. Every member of the EU ratified the treaty, and the court, which started operating this summer, has been lauded by human-rights groups as an important milestone in global justice.
Headquartered in The Hague, the court has a mandate to prosecute genocide and other gross human-rights violations when national governments are unwilling or unable to step in.
The U.S.-European split on the ICC became a sensitive issue in trans-Atlantic relations earlier this year. Europeans saw the U.S. refusal to cooperate with the ICC as a confirmation of what they see as growing U.S. unilateralism in world affairs. The U.S. insisted that it shouldn't be subject to the authority of an institution whose legitimacy it doesn't recognize.
The EU compromise allows EU countries to sign bilateral immunity deals with the U.S., provided certain conditions are met. EU countries planning to enter into such an agreement must: check existing agreements, such as those governing extradition, diplomatic immunity and the status of forces, to make sure the immunity deal is even necessary; guarantee that U.S. personnel immune from the ICC could still be tried in national courts; and ensure that the immunity deals exempt only U.S. citizens on official government business.
The U.S. has sought more sweeping immunity.
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