EU's unified position

After nearly a year of deliberation, Latvia has decided not to sign a bilateral agreement with the United States under which each country would pledge not to surrender the other's citizens to the International Criminal Court (ICC), the daily "Diena" reported on 26 June. Foreign Ministry State Secretary Maris Riekstins told the newspaper that Latvia informed the United States about the decision last week. He noted that Latvia did not say it will never sign such an agreement, but could not do so now because of the EU's unified position against the immunity-exemption agreements. Riekstins suggested that the United States and the EU should hold negotiations on the issue. The Greek EU Presidency on 24 June published a statement under which the 10 EU candidate countries as well as Bulgaria, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Romania, and Switzerland promised that their "national stance will be consistent with the general EU position."