Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-09-10-Speech-1-097-000"
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"en.20120910.23.1-097-000"2
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"Mr President, previously, I was a member of the temporary committee investigating allegations surrounding the CIA’s involvement in the kidnapping and illegal detention of prisoners within the EU in this Parliament. Looking back, we can only be thrilled with this new report and so, on behalf of our group, I would like to warmly congratulate the rapporteur, Ms Flautre, as this follow-up report finally sees the light of day.
At the time of the Fava report, members were still struggling to discover hard facts due to the lack of information on the covert CIA detention programme. Based on a number of specific indicators, for me, the strength of the report was found mainly in the formulation of a number of recommendations, such as the drafting of a comprehensive definition of terrorism and imposing adequate democratic control of intelligence services. The purpose of those recommendations was to ensure that illegal practices such as forced disappearances and arbitrary detentions do not happen again.
However, what do we find five years on? Those recommendations have remained dead in the water and no single European country has provided an explanation why. The European Union and its Member States are continuing to feign deafness in response to the many calls for openness about their involvement in the CIA programme, despite all the evidence gathered by Parliament itself, as well as by the Council of Europe, the United Nations, the media and organisations such as Amnesty International.
Following this report, I certainly hope that Parliament will continue to exert pressure until we finally get some clarification and all the recommendations have been implemented. This is absolutely necessary because arbitrary detention continues to be a practice of the United States in particular. In addition, Guantánamo has still not been closed down, despite all the promises. Of course, combating terrorism is necessary, but the balance between the protection of society and violations of personal freedoms should be appropriate. Respect for human rights is an absolute precondition for ensuring the effectiveness of any anti-terrorism policy, and hence also the European anti-terrorism policy, especially in order to maintain the confidence of citizens in the democratic order of the EU.
By cooperating with the CIA programme without criticism, the EU has grossly violated this confidence. The use of unconditional diplomatic assurances, the systematic invocation of state secrecy and the way in which intelligence services took on the role of judge are contrary to the values on which Europe is built, namely, the rule of law, human rights and respect for human dignity. My group has therefore worked hard for a strong text which condemns these practices. It is only in this way that Europe can maintain moral control in the world."@en1
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