European Union Criticized for Not Pushing U.S. on CIA Jail Reports
Brussels, December 2 (RHC)-- European Union parliamentarians have accused leaders of the 25-country bloc of failing to press the United States hard enough on media reports of secret CIA jails holding prisoners in Europe. Members of the European Parliament said that the UK, which currently the EU's rotating presidency and the EU Commission had failed to conduct a full investigation into allegations the CIA was running secret jails in Eastern Europe and covertly flying prisoners through EU airports.
Speaking at a meeting of the Parliament's civil liberties committee, Liberal Democrat Sarah Ludford said that she was "not reassured that there is sufficient determination by the Council (of EU states) to get to the bottom of these allegations." Referring to Foreign Secretary Jack Straw's move to write to Washington seeking clarification of the reports, she added: "That sounds to me rather less than zealous." Austrian Green deputy Johannes Voggenhuber accused EU member states and the Commission, the EU's powerful executive, of having no interest in checking allegations which, if true, would be deeply embarrassing to the governments involved. He told the hearing in Brussels that the Commission was not making full use of its access to European air traffic data which could help clarify reports on the alleged CIA flights. The European Parliament Socialist Group, the second largest group in the assembly, called on Wednesday for the U.S. envoy to the EU to answer questions before the parliament. European parliamentarians are studying whether to launch their own inquiry into the reports alongside one being conducted by the Council of Europe, Europe's top human rights watchdog.
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