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The future of Eujust Lex depends on the renewal of SOMA by the Iraqis

(credit: BVOP/Kolesza Krisztina)(BRUSSELS2, exclusive) The Europeans continue to negotiate with the Iraqis, the renewal of SOMA - the international agreement which governs the status of the mission. " We don't despair of getting there » mexplained a senior EEAS official. To do this, the Europeans will no doubt have to agree to amend their standard agreement.

Indeed, as in all missions, the Europeans benefited from almost total immunity from jurisdiction for their EUJUST Lex legal assistance mission, allowing members of the mission who involuntarily cause an accident not to be tried in the country. A difficult negotiation. Of course, there is much less risk coming from a judge sent for training than from an armed soldier on the move. And the EUJUST Lex mission does not have executive power. But the Iraqis are very ticklish about their sovereignty, someone close to the case told me. The Eujust Lex mission, led since October 18 by Hungarian Brigadier General La?szlo? HUSZA?R, has the mission to support Iraqi criminal justice, to train senior officers and senior officers of the criminal police, and also intervenes in the penitentiary system. It has been deployed since 2006 in the country.

US withdrawal from NATO

The Americans end today Sunday (December 18) their military engagement in the country. While NATO has already announced, on December 12, not to renew its assistance and training mission (NTM-I), which ends on December 31, having failed to negotiate a total immunity agreement . " It was not possible to reach an agreement on the extension of this program, which has borne fruit, despite tough negotiations that lasted several weeks. explained a few days ago AF Rasmussen, Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance. And to specify that since its deployment in 2004, the NTM?I has “ trained more than 5 soldiers and more than 000 police in Iraq ". She allowed " more than 2 other people to participate in courses organized in allied countries, and has provided more than 000 million euros of military equipment as well as funds for a total amount of 115 million euros, paid as a trust fund ».

(credit: BVOP/Kolesza Krisztina)

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Nicolas Gros Verheyde

Chief editor of the B2 site. Graduated in European law from the University of Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne and listener to the 65th session of the IHEDN (Institut des Hautes Etudes de la Défense Nationale. Journalist since 1989, founded B2 - Bruxelles2 in 2008. EU/NATO correspondent in Brussels for Sud-Ouest (previously West-France and France-Soir).

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