Romania shuns EU over U.S. immunity

The U.S. ambassador at the U.N. vote on the ICC

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Romania has struck a deal with the United States to prevent U.S. peacekeepers from falling under the jurisdiction of a new war crimes court.

The move is the first success in the U.S. bid to undermine the International Criminal Court which was set up to prosecute war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.

The court has the backing of much of the international community, including the European Union and the United Nations.

The U.S., which refuses to ratify the treaty and does not considers itself to be bound by its provisions, has instructed its embassies to approach individual countries to negotiate bilateral agreements to avoid U.S. personnel being prosecuted in their jurisdictions by the ICC.

On Thursday -- as the EU expressed regret over Romania's decision -- Britain and Norway confirmed that they have each been approached.

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The Netherlands and Italy are also believed to have been approached.

European Commission spokesman Michael Curtis told a news conference: "We deplore that a candidate country to the EU has not waited for the European Union to establish its final position, which I believe will be taken in early September.

"We remain in contact with the Romanians on this issue ...to gain clarification on why they took this step, but also to make clear our regret that this has actually taken place."

Romania hopes to eventually become a member of both the EU and NATO.

Jean-Christophe Filori, the European Commission enlargement spokesman said: "This is very regrettable. We would have expected a future member state to have at least coordinated with us on such an important issue."

EU officials said on Thursday that they were concerned that other possible east European members could be also under pressure from Washington to follow suit.

Bucharest is the first to sign such an agreement, though other countries have been approached.

Norwegian and British officials confirmed to CNN on Thursday that U.S. officials made the requests this summer.

"The United States has asked us in informal conversations to grant American citizens legal immunity in connection with cases that are being heard by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague," Norwegian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oeystein Boe said.

Norway has indicated there is a possibility it will decline the request.

A Foreign Office spokesman, in London, said the same request had been made to the UK but the matter would be discussed with its EU partners before giving Washington an answer.

The U.S. strongly opposes the ICC and fears that hostile nations may abuse the court to bring politically motivated cases against Americans.

It reached a compromise with the United Nations in July, agreeing not to oppose the renewal of U.N. peacekeeping missions in exchange for a one-year suspension of investigations or prosecutions by the ICC of any U.S. peacekeepers accused of war crimes on U.N.-approved missions.

But almost all of America's strongest allies are supporters of the court, which they say is essential to uphold the rule of law globally and hold the worst human rights violators accountable.