Interview: US seeking EU help to close Guantanamo

The European Union has been engaging in in-depth discussions with the United States over the last three years to harbour prisoners detained in the controversial US Guantanamo centre in Cuba, EU counter-terrorism chief Gilles de Kerchove revealed in an exclusive interview with EURACTIV.

Over 700 detainees have been brought to the controversial high-security US detention centre in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. Some 270 detainees still remain there, mainly because the US authorities find it difficult to persuade countries to accept them. 

Gilles de Kerchove, who was appointed EU counter-terrorism coordinator in September of last year, said the EU would need to help the Americans “as soon as possible” by receiving some suspected terrorists on their territory. This was because the suspects’ security would be at risk if they were to return to their home countries, he added. 

“They are asking for assistance,” de Kerchove said, adding that providing such help would not amount to an endorsement of the United States’ ‘War on Terror’. “We are not endorsing the war on terror paradigm,” de Kerchove insisted, saying that “there is an EU approach to fighting terror which is based on the rule of law”. 

But he added that he was confident that the dialogue was now making the US revisit its practices. “Progressively we have started this dialogue and gradually it has led the Americans to revisit their approach. Now the President of the United States recognises that he has to close Guantanamo as soon as possible and he is trying to send the prisoners back in their native countries, provided they won’t be tortured there.”

“We cannot accept torture in any way. That’s against all values of the European Union, as are any lapse in human rights and methods like the ones used in Guantanamo.” 

“I think we will have to help the Americans close Guantanamo as soon as possible.”

EU countries unwiling to take prisoners 

But there seems to be little appetite among EU member states to harbour Guantanamo prisoners, particularly those against whom there is insufficient evidence for a trial. Such persons, de Kerchove said, “cannot be sent back to their home countries, because there they would be in trouble, like the Uighurs in China”. 

“So the question is: do we have member states that are ready to take Uighurs into their territory?” Asked by EURACTIV if there were any, de Kerchove replied: “So far, no.” 

US practices ‘completely unacceptable’ 

De Kerchove admitted that “disagreements” exist between the EU and the US regarding the means of combating terrorism, alluding to the secret “rendition flights” to Guantanamo that stopped over in European territory. 

“Guantanamo, secret flights and secret detention camps are completely unacceptable,” he said. “These are matters of utmost concern in the EU, not only because it’s against our values, but also because it’s inefficient. Experience shows that torture is counterproductive. It contributes to radicalising the Muslim world, because it suggests there are double standards.” 

The EU counter-terrorism chief also mentioned different approaches in Afghanistan, where the US is attacking poppy crops with aerial sprays. The EU believes that eradication will only be possible if it is accompanied by alternative development assistance to the farmers. But overall, de Kerchove welcomed the advances in EU-US cooperation, including the negotiation of an agreement on extradition and another on mutual assistance. 

Avoiding to build ‘a 100% surveillance society’ 

De Kerchove also warned that the EU was not immune from further terrorist threats, especially in the Netherlands, France, the UK and Germany, where different plots have been mounted in recent years. 

“The fact that there haven’t been any successful attacks doesn’t mean there is no threat,” De Kerchove said, adding that the terrorist threat remains essentially linked to Al Qaeda. 

But the counter-terrorism coordinator also voiced concern over achieving the right mix between security requirements and protecting private freedoms by avoiding the construction of “a 100% surveillance society” and “a George Orwell nightmare”. 

In that respect, he revealed that the EU was working on introducing an EU label for the security of new technologies. “Such an EU label would give the guarantee of efficient technology, integrating requirements for protecting privacy, and if industry can do that soon, we will have norms and standards which may apply worldwide, and also give a competitive edge to our industries,” de Kerchove said. 

The counter-terror chief was also categorical that the Lisbon Treaty, if it came into force, would greatly improve EU security policies. 

Asked about recent allegations that US agencies had funded the ‘no’ campaign on the Lisbon Treaty referendum in Ireland, de Kerchove said he did not believe the US administration had any interest in doing so. But he added that he “wouldn’t be surprised” if some neo-conservatives in the US were “very much against Europe emerging as a power or as a superpower”. 

To read the interview in full, please click here.

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