Brussels - The European Union will demand that the United States grant it access to all secret files on released Guantanamo inmates before agreeing to host any of them on its territory, officials in Brussels said Thursday.

"There can't be anything that is kept secret from a country that wishes to take in a Guantanamo detainee," said Czech Interior Minister Ivan Langer.

"Everything should be transparent and open," said Langer, whose country holds the EU rotating presidency.

Langer spoke after a meeting in Brussels in which EU interior ministers held a first round of talks on the possibility of hosting some of the men that are due to be released from the infamous US prison camp in Cuba, which US President Barack Obama has vowed to close by the end of the year.

Of the about 250 inmates still being detained there, around 60 have not been charged of terrorism and have been declared free to go.

However, many of them are refusing to be sent back to their country of origin for fear of being persecuted. This group includes Chinese, Egyptians, Syrians and Libyans.

EU ministers said that while they would be willing to help Obama, "the primary responsibility for finding a solution lies with the US."

So far, only nine EU countries have stated that they might host some of the men in orange jumpsuits.

Among them is France, whose interior minister Eric Besson said Thursday that a candidate would have to show a willingness to live in France and demonstrate that he has ties with the country.

France and others would also need to ensure that he does not pose a security threat, Besson said.

And since most EU countries are part of the free-movement Schengen area, which has done away with systematic border checks, governments would need to push for a "coordinated approach" and share information about their presence on EU territory.

Because of Schengen, "every member state will have the same right to get information about these people, regardless of whether it decides to accept detainees or not," Langer said.

The EU's top justice official, Commissioner Jacques Barrot, said member states had "legitimate doubts that need to be voiced."

"We also need to have all the useful information from the US," said Barrot, who plans to raise the issue when he travels to Washington with Langer on March 16-18.

"We are not going to the US to negotiate, but to exchange and receive information," Langer said.

Human rights groups have urged the EU ministers to be generous and help close "this dark chapter of history," insisting that the soon- to-be-released detainees are innocent victims of former US President George W Bush's global war on terrorism.

"It is important to step away from this misconception that the detainees are terrorists simply because they were held in Guantanamo," said Camilla Jelbart of Amnesty International ahead of Thursday's meeting.

But EU officials remained unconvinced, with Barrot saying: "It is only logical that interior ministers should pose two or three questions to the US. Are they guilty? Are they innocent? Have they been tried? If they are innocent, why doesn't the US keep them on their territory? That's the very least we can ask."

Direct EU-US talks on Guantanamo could be raised as soon as next week, when US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton plans to meet top EU officials in Brussels. (dpa)