U.S.-EU talks on Guantanamo are stalling

WASHINGTON, March 24 (UPI) -- Negotiations between the United States and European nations over taking up inmates from the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are stalling.

An EU delegation meeting with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to confront him with a series of questions about potential cooperation on Guantanamo inmates returned to Brussels empty-handed, German newsmagazine Der Spiegel reports.

The new U.S. government is still trying to come up with a clear position on the issue, and much like the EU, it remains "deeply at odds with each other and completely helpless," Der Spiegel quotes an unnamed EU diplomat as saying. The unnamed diplomat predicted that the negotiations over the future of the Guantanamo inmates will last the entire year.

U.S. President Barack Obama promised in January he would have the infamous military prison closed down within a year.

Washington wants European nations to take in roughly 50 to 60 inmates. These prisoners -- from nations including Libya, China and Algeria -- can't return home because they could face abuse or torture there or because their governments are unwilling to take them back. Washington says the inmates are harmless.

But the EU wants more information on why these prisoners can't stay in America; it also wants the intelligence tied to prisoners to follow them into their future countries of residence, Der Spiegel reports.

EU member states likely will be able to individually decide whether to take inmates in, but that won't relieve the 27-member bloc of a joint coordination on the issue. Once taken in by one country, the former inmates, thanks to the Schengen agreement, would be able to travel and resettle anywhere in the EU.