Strasbourg, 18/01/2006 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament's desire, expressed in December 2005 (see EUROPE 9089), to lead an inquiry into the existence of secret CIA detention centres in Europe and the illegal rendition of terror suspects by the CIA or the secret services of other countries at or via European airports was realised on Wednesday when the EP agreed to set up a temporary committee to investigate the matter. The plenary approved the suggestions from the Conference of Presidents of the EP's political groups (EUROPE 9108) for the temporary committee's mandate (see EUROPE 9108). The committee will be made up of 46 MEPs, with the exact list being decided on Thursday 19 January. As we were going to press, two MEPs were being suggested as the favourites for their respective parties for the post of President and rapporteur of the temporary committee, namely Italian Giovanni Claudio Fava for the PES and Portuguese MEP Carlos Coelho for the EPP-ED. One of these two parties will provide the President of the committee, and the other one will appoint the rapporteur.
The temporary committee's mandate will be to collect and analyse information to find out 'whether the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) or other US agents or intelligence services of other third countries have carried out abductions, 'extraordinary renditions', detentions at secret sites, torture, inhuman or degrading treatment of prisons on EU territory or in acceding or candidate countries, or have used this territory to these ends, for example by through flights to or from such countries'; Member States, public officials, those charged with an official or EU institutional mission, or EU citizens were among those involved in the acts in question; - these operations could be considered a violation particularly of Article 6 of the European Treaty of Union, Articles 2, 3, 5 and 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights the Charter of Fundamental Rights, the United Nations Convention on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and agreements between the European Union and the United States of America on extradition and judicial assistance, and other international treaties and agreements between the Union or Community and its Member States, including the North Atlantic Treaty and agreements on the status of forces attached to it, and the Convention on International Civil Aviation.
The mandate provides for the submission by the temporary committee to the Plenary of all the recommendations it deems necessary, particularly with regard to political, legal and administrative consequences at European level and possible consequences for relations between the EU and third countries. Given the Council of Europe's two current enquiries (see EUROPE 9106) MEPs called on the temporary committee to act in the closest cooperation with the international organisation and its secretary general, with its Parliamentary Assembly and also the European Human Rights Commissioner and his UN counterpart, and with national parliaments. The committee will submit a provisional report along with detailed proposals on the organisation and execution of its work within four months of its opening. MEPs will have to reach agreement on Thursday on how the political groups will share membership of the committee.
After hesitating over whether or not it could legitimately become involved in this affair (see EUROPE 9083), Parliament finally decided. This decision comes at a time when suspicions over the existence of CIA detention camps in Europe are gaining ground, since, according to the latest revelations of Dick Marty, the Council of Europe rapporteur on this subject, European countries have known for at least two years about the existence of secret prisons and the activities of the United States in Europe with regard to suspected terrorists.