Updated

The Spanish government said Tuesday it was close to deciding how many Guantanamo detainees it will accept from the U.S. military detention center on the southeastern tip of Cuba.

Spain is still studying individual prisoners' cases, but the process is far along "if not yet totally completed," Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said in the southern city of Alicante.

He did not say when the government might announce its final decision, but assured Spaniards that the detainees admitted into the country would not pose a security threat.

"The government is studying various cases so that those Guantanamo prisoners that do come to Spain logically will not pose a problem to the security of our country," Rubalcaba said.

The United States asked Spain to accept four prisoners from Guantanamo on June 17. President Barack Obama has pledged to close the Guantanamo detention facility.

"I think Europe, which was especially critical of Guantanamo and all it represented, must now ... lend a hand because the closure benefits us all," Rubalcaba said, adding that the closure would demonstrate that the rule of law will be maintained in the fight against international terror.