euro|topics - The EU and Guantánamo

Main focus of Tuesday, January 27, 2009

The EU and Guantánamo

The EU wants to discuss the taking in of detainees from the controversial Guantánamo prison with the United States. The European press discusses this offer of aid to Barack Obama and the reactions of individual countries.

Mladá fronta Dnes - Czech Republic

"Barack Obama will soon realise that love affairs with Europe require a cautious approach," writes the liberal daily Mladá fronta DNES on the Europeans' unwillingness to help the US president by taking in Guantánamo prisoners. "Obama, we think what you're doing in Guantánamo is great, but you'd better not count on our support. At first glance this seems logical. ... It wasn't Europe that caused the problem. But this perspective has a snag. Obama is also innocent of blame. ... Europe is undergoing its first test. It will show whether the tense relations with [former US president George W.] Bush in fact were not based on anti-Americanism, as people claim, but on opposition to his policies." (27/01/2009)

Jyllands-Posten - Denmark

The Danish daily Jyllands-Posten writes that all Guantánamo detainees should really return to their home countries because almost all countries have signed the UN Declaration of Human Rights and it would be possible to monitor their well-being. "It's difficult to judge how fundamentalist the Guantánamo prisoners are because they have neither been charged nor stood trial. But the Pentagon recently announced that 61 of the released prisoners are active in terrorism and one occupies a leading position within Al-Qaida. ... It would only create new problems to distribute them in the West according to some kind of quota system. They must at all events be kept under supervision and this would be easiest to do in their countries of origin." (27/01/2009)

Helsingin Sanomat - Finland

The daily Helsingin Sanomat sees it as the duty of EU countries to facilitate the swift closure of the camp by taking in former Guantánamo prisoners. "When US President Barack Obama last Thursday took the decision to close Guantánamo Bay within a year, he confronted Europe with a new challenge in cooperation. ... Closing the facility quickly without breaking the law will only be possible if countries can be found who are prepared to take in the prisoners. ... The decision to take in prisoners is not an easy one. Besides the question of security, in some countries it raises legal issues. But the right answer is that the EU countries should be willing to take in some prisoners, and Finland should be among those countries. ... If Europe takes in 60 prisoners Finland's quota can't be too high. As [Green MP] Pekka Haavisto aptly put it, these people do not come to us as prisoners but as asylum-seekers." (27/01/2009)

Rzeczpospolita - Poland

The daily Rzeczpospolita asks where the prisoners should go: "The American prison on Cuba ... had one advantage. It guaranteed that terroriss who were dangerous to the world order remained isolated in one place. ... What will happen now when these prisoners - even the less dangerous among them - are dispersed across Europe? Will our lack of experience in fighting the Al-Qaida network and our very liberal methods of resocialisation not make it easy for them to flee? Such cases have been seen among prisoners released from American jails, who then returned to Al-Qaida. The world may become more humane without Guantánamo. But it will not be any more secure." (27/01/2009)

Der Standard - Austria

If Europe wants to help the Obama government by accepting Guantánamo prisoners Austria must also do its part, writes the daily Der Standard. "No country wants to have these men. Even before their time in Guantánamo they were radically anti-Western in their views, and today they can hardly be integrated. Of course this is an 'American problem' as the EU's head of foreign policy Javier Solana says. But US President Barack Obama needs the help of his allies in solving it. Taking all of the ex-inmates into the United States would be suicide on the domestic front. ... If the Europeans refuse to accept Guantánamo prisoners, the hope for a new transatlantic era with Obama will burst like a bubble. Above all the large countries will have to show their openness. But for the EU to function, the small ones must also do their part. It would be tactless as well as dumb for Austria to freeload yet again." (27/01/2009)

» To the complete press review of Tuesday, January 27, 2009

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