PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS RATIFICATION OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 000018

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/03/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL JO KICC
SUBJECT: PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS RATIFICATION OF
ARTICLE 98 AGREEMENT

REF: 05 AMMAN 9514

Classified By: Ambassador David Hale for Reasons 1.4 (b),(d)


1. (U) The legal committee of the Chamber of Deputies - the
lower house of Jordan's parliament - on January 2 formally
recommended the ratification of the U.S.-Jordan Article 98
agreement. The Chamber of Deputies had referred the
agreement to the legal committee on December 7, after earlier
rejecting it during its summer extraordinary session
(reftel). The agreement, already approved by the Jordanian
Senate, will now be placed on the lower house agenda for a
full vote. NOTE: The legal committee also recommended on
January 2 that Jordan accede to the International Criminal
Court through ratification of the Rome Statute. END NOTE.



2. (C) COMMENT: Prospects are good that the Chamber of
Deputies will eventually approve the Article 98 agreement,
particularly since it now has the legal committee's positive
recommendation, but neither we nor the Government of Jordan
should take it for granted. The timing of the vote on the
agreement is uncertain, and parliament must work through a
heavy legislative agenda before its current session ends in
March. Squabbling among MPs (septel) has already delayed
consideration of the government's budget - parliament's first
major task - and other items will undoubtedly compete for the
action of MPs. However, Foreign Minister Khatib told
Ambassador on December 31 that he expects parliament to
ratify both the Article 98 agreement and the Rome Statute by
March.
Hale