The EU is drawing up plans to erode the rights of refugees fleeing from persecution making it easier for governments to repatriate them, according to officials privy to closed discussions in European capitals.  Under a proposed new EU directive, refugees would be granted temporary status which could be withdrawn under sweeping and vague criteria.  These include minor criminal offences and claims that the refugees were "a danger to the security of the host country". Details of the EU negotiations have been passed to Statewatch, an independent London-based journal which monitors threats to civil rights.  Tony Bunyan, editor of Statewatch, said yesterday: "Those seeking sanctuary from persecution, torture and inhuman treatment are only to be given temporary status as a matter of policy.  "Their status is to be under constant review so that they can be repatriated at the earliest opportuntiy - potentially even through forced return if EU governments decide it is safe for them."  According to the draft directive - due to come into force next June - people would also be excluded from refugee status if they had committed crimes with an allegedly political objective directed, for example, against repressive regimes.  Such broad offences reflect the definition of terrorism adopted by EU countries, including Britain.  The 1951 Geneva convention, which set up the UN's refugee agency, does not discriminate against people who have committed such crimes when defining who is eligible for refugee status.  Statewatch says that the proposed directive, which would be binding on all EU members, is designed to make it much easier for governments to deport refugees.  Other independent groups familiar with the issue said yesterday that the idea of giving refugees temporary protection followed the mass exodus from Kosovo in 1999, when it was assumed that most of the ethnic Albanians expelled from the Serbian province would return within a year.  "EU states, including Britain, considered that as a model for the future", said a senior refugee expert.  But he said there was a widespread fear was that this would become the norm rather than the exception.  Last year, Britain introduced a law making it easier for the government to withdraw refugee status on "national security" grounds, from people who had been sentenced to two years or more in prison.  Britain gave initial approval to about 11,000 people asking for refugee status in 2001, according to the latest Home Office figures.  Danish officials in Brussels angrily dismissed the Statewatch report, insisting that it was false that the proposed directive breached the Geneva convention.  Any changes had been negotiated with the full agreement and support of the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, a spokesman said.  They also denied that the proposals arose as a result of a Danish initiative linked to the country's tough new domestic laws on immigration and asylum.  The proposals were part of continuing efforts to produce workable asylum and immigration policies across the EU and they would not lead to the expulsion of bona fide refugees, the officials said. Classification Language: ENGLISH Subject: REFUGEES (95%); EUROPEAN UNION (91%); CRIMINAL OFFENSES (90%); IMMIGRATION (89%); POLITICAL ASYLUM (89%); IMMIGRATION LAW (86%); APPROVALS (78%); DEPORTATION (78%); EUROPEAN UNION REGULATION & POLICY (78%); HUMAN RIGHTS & CIVIL LIBERTIES LAW (78%); PUBLIC POLICY (78%); EUROPEAN UNION INSTITUTIONS (78%); EUROPEAN UNION LAW (78%); AGREEMENTS (78%); UNITED NATIONS (78%); SENTENCING (76%); NATIONAL SECURITY (76%); PRISONS (76%); JAIL SENTENCING (76%); DISCRIMINATION (75%); LEGISLATION (75%); CIVIL RIGHTS (73%); RACE & ETHNICITY (73%); RELIEF ORGANIZATIONS (73%); TREATIES & AGREEMENTS (70%); UNITED NATIONS INSTITUTIONS (70%); TERRORISM (51%) Company: EUROPEAN UNION (84%); EUROPEAN UNION (84%); UNITED NATIONS (55%); UNITED NATIONS (55%) Organization: EUROPEAN UNION (84%); EUROPEAN UNION (84%); UNITED NATIONS (55%); UNITED NATIONS (55%); EUROPEAN UNION (84%); EUROPEAN UNION (84%); UNITED NATIONS (55%); UNITED NATIONS (55%) Geographic: LONDON, ENGLAND (79%); BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (73%); EUROPEAN UNION MEMBER STATES (96%); SERBIA (92%); DENMARK (92%); ALBANIA (79%); KOSOVO (79%); EUROPE (79%); BELGIUM (73%)