July 13, 2002	Saturday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 2, 1423

BERLIN, July 12: The European Union is ready to take over the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Bosnia should the United States pull out over the international dispute over blanket immunity for US personnel, the EU’s top foreign policy official said on Friday.

EU Commissioner Javier Solana said Brussels nonetheless hoped to find a compromise with Washington in the dispute about the immunity issue.

“Many countries have already signed and ratified the treaty (to establish the International Criminal Court),” Solana said in a German television interview. “The American friends will certainly understand that there are other mechanisms for protecting their citizens.”

In reference to US threats to pull out of the UN mission in Bosnia if demands for general immunity from international court prosecution of US military personnel are not met, Solana said the EU was prepared to step in to take over the UN mission.

“We are ready to this and have already prepared ourselves,” Solana said. “There will be no vacuum in Bosnia.”

His comments came after the United States on Thursday backed away from its immunity demand by dropping the term “immunity” from its proposal.

In a new proposal before the Security Council, the United States demanded its troops receive a 12-month deferral from investigation and prosecution by International Criminal Court.

The US said it wanted the deferral, which would effectively protect US personnel from all investigations and prosecutions, to be renewed by the council every year.

The dispute has thrown the UN peacekeeping role in Bosnia- Herzegovina into doubt. Temporary extensions have been granted to keep the mission going. The most recent one expires on Monday.

FRENCH PROPOSAL: France welcomed on Friday what it called an encouraging change in United States policy towards the new global court that Washington wants to block from trying American soldiers and civilians.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Francois Rivasseau said negotiations on the court were continuing after the United States presented a compromise proposal at the United Nations in New York on Wednesday.

Security Council members in New York signalled their preference for a French compromise proposal, which they considered more in line with the spirit of the International Criminal Court, but Washington said it would veto it.

“The United States have submitted to the other members of the Security Council a new draft resolution which shows a certain concern to be flexible,” Rivasseau said.

Washington faced an uphill battle in getting enough votes for its compromise proposals to exempt American soldiers and civilians from the court’s jurisdiction.—dpa/Reuters