The United States is happy with the support and actions...

The United States is happy with the support and actions of the EU in fighting terrorism following the September 11 attacks, a senior US government official told journalists. He added that the attacks have injected much-needed impetus to EU-US co-operation in justice and home affairs (JHA). But progress must be made on a data exchange agreement and differences reconciled over how crimes are prosecuted and the use of the death penalty. The divergent attitude to the death penalty between Europe and America is emerging as a significant obstacle to boosting judicial co-operation. The US official insisted that the death penalty is tightly circumscribed in America and is usually imposed at state rather than federal level. France has recently signed an extradition agreement with the Americans, which allows it to request that the person it extradites not be subject to the death penalty. The official suggested other EU Member States could make similar arrangements, thereby preventing the death penalty "obscuring" co-operation.