Brussels, 10/02/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 9 February, MEPs called on European Union member states to be more actively involved in bringing about the closure of the American prison in Guantanamo, in particular by making a greater effort when it comes to taking in detainees. Europe should do more, said Sarah Ludford (ALDE, UK) during the Strasbourg plenary session, adding: “We will continue to push EU governments to take more detainees for resettlement who cannot safely return to their home countries. This is their duty both out of transatlantic solidarity and out of guilt at their own complicity”. José Ignacio Salafranca Sánchez-Neyra (EPP, Spain), for his part, said the EU should cooperate with the United States but on the basis of certain conditions, especially the security of member states. Ana Gomes (S&D, Portugal) took the view it was up to the high representative to propose and conduct a true European strategy to help close Guantanamo prison down as soon as possible and to ensure the support needed for resettlement of the personnel and social reinsertion of detainees, including their right to family reunification. She went on to say she found it “shocking” that the large countries were accomplice to the “extraordinary rendition” practice of Bush, secret prisons and Guantanamo - such as Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Poland and Romania, which are seeking to shrug off their responsibilities, ignoring the pleas from the Obama administration. Europeans are “jointly responsible” for the closure of the prison, which must be closed down “immediately”, said Helmut Scholz (GUE/NGL, Germany). Hélène Flautre (Greens/EFA, France) took the view that Europe “has not drawn the conclusions of these illegal practices on European soil”, saying she believed that was the “work of the European Commission, the work of the Council”. She welcomed the results of the Lithuanian parliamentary inquiry that revealed the presence of a secret CIA prison on Lithuanian soil. “Lithuania should be applauded. It is exemplary and its example must be followed!”, she said. The Spanish secretary of state for European affairs, Diego Lopez Garrido, pointed out that member states of the Schengen Area had until now agreed to take in 16 detainees from Guantanamo. “The Guantanamo prison was the place of a number of human rights violations and we do not want this situation to be repeated”, he said. “Cooperation is therefore needed between the EU and the United States, but the decision as to whether to take in inmates or not is a sovereign decision of member states”, he concluded. One year ago, President Barack Obama gave the date of 22 January 2010 for definitive closure of the prison, but the US administration has since acknowledged that it is impossible to keep to this date (EUROPE 10066). (B.C./transl.jl)