01/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - Budgets committee criticises use of private security agents. On Thursday 27 January, members of the European Parliament's budgets committee unanimously adopted the report by Roberto Gualtieri (S&D, Italy). This report criticises the use of the private security agents to protect EU missions. According to Gualtieri, private security agents are being paid to protect EU missions in Iraq (the integrated rule of law mission in Iraq, EUJUST-LEX) and the EU police mission in Afghanistan (EUPOL Afghanistan) but the cost paid by the EU for maintaining private security agents is disproportionate. He considers that in order to ensure the security of EU missions it is necessary to find “other solutions based on European capabilities, especially since we already have on the ground military and gendarmerie forces”. (A.By./transl.fl)