Strasbourg, 13/02/2007 (Agence Europe) - MEPs intend to tone down their criticism of the governments that tolerated or assisted the US secret services in their unlawful activities on European soil, a number of sources said the day before the final vote on the CIA report. One year after an inquiry was opened on the CIA's illegal activity in Europe, the European Parliament is preparing to give its verdict in Strasbourg. The temporary committee investigating the matter acknowledged end January that the CIA had acted illegally in Europe with the complicity of certain member states. It called on the EU to conduct investigations to determine the responsibility of these states. In all, 13 member states had been named as being involved to varying degrees (EUROPE 9350). Nonetheless, the two main groups in Parliament submitted amendments that could considerably tone down the accusations made against the governments. Governments are even said to have put pressure on MEPs to play down certain passages incriminating them. “It is disappointing that some MEPs - on orders from their capitals - are seeking to water down well-deserved criticism of their governments”, said Baroness Sarah Ludford (ALDE, UK) on Tuesday. In her view, these attempts do not “detract from the overall thrust of the report”. Jas Gawronski (EPP-ED, Italy regretted on Tuesday that the report speaks of “hypothetical” cases. “Definitive conclusions” are being drawn, he added, slamming the terminology used in the report to justify a possible vote against the text by his group on Wednesday. (bc/ab)