Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-09-26-Speech-3-199"
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"en.20070926.17.3-199"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, my Group has expressed valid criticism of the Marty report and voted overwhelmingly against the Fava report. It is a shame, because at least on subjects like terrorism and human rights this House ought to be able to overcome its internal divisions and produce a common position. If we have not managed to do so, it is because unfortunately the Fava report started from a preconceived view: the United States is guilty! We thus wasted a year seeking not the truth, but proof of that guilt, omitting and even concealing any facts that would run counter to this view.
Let me give just one practical and, I may say, scandalous example. One reason why we went to Poland was to interview a journalist who had been among the first to report, a year before, on the existence of CIA prisons in Poland. When we met her, she had unfortunately changed her mind; when I say ‘unfortunately’ I mean it ironically. She was no longer certain; she told us that she would not have written that article today. Well, there is no trace of her change of mind in the report, whereas it is full of testimonies by journalists who share the rapporteur's thesis. We have wasted a year for nothing, spending taxpayers' money without discovering anything more than we already knew from the press and from official and unofficial US sources, and if President Bush himself had not revealed the existence of CIA prisons, we would not even have been certain about that.
You told us, Commissioner Frattini, that you have written letters to Poland and Romania asking for explanations but have not received replies. It is always bad form not to reply, but I am not surprised because the accusations are unfounded. You yourself refer in your letter to presumed information, not to concrete facts, and both countries have already stated at the highest level that they have investigated and that, in their opinion, no CIA prisons exist. That may or may not be true, and everyone can think what they like about it, but as you yourself said, Mr Frattini, we cannot make accusations until there is evidence.
The fact is that the Fava and Marty reports are too full of phrases such as ‘it is highly likely’ and ‘one cannot rule out’, on which basis firm conclusions are then drawn. Let no one come and tell me, to justify the lack of evidence, that we are not a court and that ours is a political document. It is no longer political when we are invited to consider whether or not circumstances are sufficiently extreme to invoke Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union.
Now, given that I sense a mood in this House in favour of putting together a new CIA report, I have a recommendation to make. Let us stop producing tendentious interpretations of the past; let us stop investigating this matter about which we have discovered nothing. Let us leave it up to the courts – as the Commissioner said – and to journalists who have the wherewithal to investigate, and can do so better than us. Let us concentrate on the future, on politics and on the ‘recommendations’ part of the Fava report, which is the only acceptable part.
The United States has undoubtedly made mistakes; in some cases it has violated human rights, but it is very easy not to make mistakes when one does nothing to combat terrorism. Terrorism is a new phenomenon not countenanced in our laws, and legislation now has to be adapted. Let us try to enact laws on conduct to prevent any further human rights violations, so as to avoid a repeat of past errors, and to adapt our rules and regulations to a new type of global threat.
It is fair that the Commission should attempt to carry out an overall assessment of measures adopted by the Member States; the other initiatives announced and launched by Mr Frattini are equally acceptable. Nevertheless, a good deal still remains to be done if the problem of terrorism is to be tackled in a global, forceful and coordinated manner. I am thinking of the Internet and measures to prevent and prosecute criminal offences, so as to avoid the paradoxical situation where, while governments operate separately at national level, terrorists for their part act at global level through the Internet and cells located all over the place.
Our future depends on our ability to defeat terrorism. Let us unite in order to win this battle."@en1
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