Brussels, 05/12/2005 (Agence Europe) - The European tour currently being made by US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, is being dominated by the question of the CIA's secret prisons in Europe. Condoleezza Rice is expected to take a firm line on the CIA's controversial activities in Europe, urging US allies to make the vital difficult counter-terrorism choices. On 30 November, the United States, through state department spokesperson Sean McCormack, agreed to give a direct, opportune answer to Europeans about the alleged secret 'rendition' flights of terror suspects at EU airports. Rice is flying into Europe at the very moment when a row over the rendition of terror suspects has broken out. According to the UK's Guardian newspaper, more than 300 CIA flights have landed in Europe (in Germany, France, the UK, the Czech Republic and Poland) since 11 September 2001, transporting terror suspects to secret CIA prisons in Eastern Europe. In Germany, where Condoleezza Rice was expected on Tuesday morning, German publication Der Spiegel listed 437 flights landing or flying over Germany, suspected of being secret CIA flights. Condoleezza Rice will travel to Romania and the Ukraine, before taking part in a NATO Council meeting in Brussels on Thursday.
The EU is calling for answers. UK foreign minister Jack Straw asked Condoleezza Rice for explanations on behalf of the EU in a recent letter (see EUROPE 9080). Some MEPs want a formal investigation to be launched into the alleged CIA gulags. Most of the MEPs on the Civil Rights Committee called on 1 December for the opening of an inquiry. British ALDE MEP Sarah Ludford said such an investigation would have value-added. She suggests using Articles 6 and 7 of the Treaties (on protection of fundamental rights) as the legal basis for setting up a committee of enquiry.