Brussels, 17/03/2004 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee decided by 20 votes for and 19 against the postpone the report of Belgian Socialist Véronique de Keyser on human rights in the world in 2003. British Conservative Geoffrey Van Orden asked for the postponement when noticing that there had been at least 280 amendments presented and invoked the Parliamentary Regulation stipulating that if there is a significant number of amendments, the relevant parliamentary committee can call on the rapporteur to present a different draft report that takes into account the largest possible number of amendments. Overall, the most controversial points in the De Keyser report involve the "security excesses in the fight against terrorism". On Tuesday members of the EPP-ED group at the parliamentary committee stated that following the attacks of 11 March in Madrid, this question deserved greater reflection.
Véronique De Keyser stated in a press communiqué that the report not only highlighted the fight against terrorism and "its abuses against freedom" but also "reproductive health and the rights of the disabled", sensitive areas on which the EPP-ED group had multiplied "procedural incidents" throughout the entire term. De Keyser announced that she would "very soon" be presenting her report to the foreign affairs committee but pointed out that the vote had already been postponed once, a fortnight ago in Strasbourg, on the pretext of the "absence of electronic voting" facilities. The MEP said that she was afraid that other stalling manoeuvres were afoot.