June 12, 2003	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 11, 1424

SARAJEVO, June 11: France warned Bosnia on possible consequences for its relations with the European Union if it ratifies a deal giving US citizens immunity from extradition to the International Criminal Court (ICC), the French embassy said here Wednesday.

Ratification of the non-extradition pact with the United States by the Bosnian parliament prior to next week’s EU summit near Salonika, Greece, would send a very “bad signal,” the embassy said in a statement.

“But even if the agreement is ratified after the Salonika summit, it would have negative consequences for the relations between Bosnia-Hercegovina and the EU,” it added.

The French ambassador to Bosnia, Bernard Bajolet, met with the country’s top officials this week to warn them over the issue.

Under the deal, signed last month by the US ambassador to Bosnia Clifford Bond and Bosnian Justice Minister Slobodan Kovac, US citizens will be exempted from extradition to the ICC from Bosnia’s soil.

The deal had already been ratified last week by the lower house of the Bosnian parliament.

It now has to be ratified by the parliament’s upper house, a move considered a formality.

Any country that refuses to sign the immunity deal with the United States by July 1 will lose military assistance from the United States.

The EU, which strongly supports the ICC, opposes bilateral pacts being signed with any member or candidate country.

The Hague-based ICC is the world’s first permanent — rather than temporary — court set up to try cases of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Squeezed between conflicting EU and US stances on the court, Bosnia opted to sign the deal fearing it would lose vital US political support in its bid to join NATO.—AFP