-Caveat Lector-
UK London Telegraph
ISSUE 2113 Thursday 8 March 2001
Bush team angry over EU pressure on death penalty
By Toby Harnden in Washington
THE European Union has angered the Bush administration by taking America to
task for ignoring "human rights norms" in its refusal to abolish the death
penalty.
President Bush was a strong supporter of capital punishment while governor of
Texas and White House sources said the EU's "preoccupation" with an American
domestic policy matter could sour transatlantic relations.
Gen Colin Powell, the Secretary of State and a supporter of the death
penalty, gave a vigorous defence of the American position on Tuesday when
Anna Lindh, the Swedish Foreign Minister, said there was "strong sentiment"
in Europe on the issue.
Javier Solana, the European high representative for foreign and security
policy, and Chris Patten, commissioner for external affairs, were also at the
Washington meeting. The death penalty had been tabled as an agenda item by
the EU.
Mr Patten said: "She [Mrs Lindh] referred to the continuing European concern
about the use of the death penalty in the United States, as I have made clear
when I have discussed this face-to-face in the European parliament."
It was a "perfectly courteous exchange", he added, and Gen Powell had
responded by saying "that this was an issue on which there was broad
consensus in the US, that it was a matter for the states and that both
presidential candidates had supported it". Gen Powell also told the EU
foreign policy troika that he did not think there would be any change in the
American position in the foreseeable future.
Mr Bush grew exasperated during the election campaign over what he saw as the
obsession of European journalists and officials with the death penalty. Last
summer, a group of French legislators travelled to his headquarters in
Austin, Texas, to meet him but were briefed by aides instead when he found
out that the only matter they wanted to discuss was the death penalty.
On the day of the election, the French and Swedish ambassadors and the head
of the EU delegation in Washington wrote to Mr Bush protesting about the
imminent execution of John Paul Penry, a rapist and murderer said to have a
mental age of six.
This was seen by some Republicans as an unwarranted interference in the
election that could have damaged Mr Bush in the eyes of black voters. They
are overwhelmingly against the death penalty because of the disproportionate
numbers of blacks and Hispanics who are executed.
Washington's irritation was compounded when, in December, a clause was
inserted in the EU charter of fundamental rights stating that no prisoner
could be extradited to a country that had the death penalty.
Although the clause is not legally binding and individual cases have been
left for member states to resolve, the European Court of Justice has already
cited the charter as a text. If it became law no prisoner could be extradited
to America because forms of restraint such as leg irons are judged to be
human rights abuses.
Jeff Gedmin, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute think tank who is
widely tipped to be in line for a senior position in the Bush administration,
said it was "odd that an American domestic issue has become so prominent in
the foreign policy agenda" in recent months.
"It's a club to beat America, an expression of Euro nationalism, a statement
that while you may be a superpower we're far morally superior. But European
populations from Poland to Great Britain are in favour of the death penalty
so this is not a case of European values versus American values. It's a
division of elite values."
Thirty-eight of the 50 states have the death penalty on the statute books and
decisions are generally not a federal matter. A Gallup poll this year found
public support running at 67 per cent, much lower than previously.
A Republican foreign policy specialist who served in the administration of
George Bush Snr said a prominent EU official had told him that America rather
than countries such as Iran was singled out on the death penalty because "we
expect more of you". The Republican said: "I take exception to being lectured
about our criminal justice system by the continent that gave us the
guillotine, the Spanish Inquisition and the Holocaust."
Willy Helin, spokesman for the EU in Washington, said the EU was opposed to
the death penalty in principle but particularly highlighted cases involving
people who were minors at the time of the offence, mentally retarded or
foreign nationals. "We don't believe there is reason to start a major row on
this across the Atlantic. We just don't believe the death penalty is a
sufficient deterrent."
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