Strasbourg, 21/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday, MEPs adopted, by the large majority of 478 for to 96 against, with 4 abstentions, the report by Bogdan Klich (EPP-ED, Poland) on the external dimension of Justice, Freedom and Security. “In today's world, the internal and external elements of security are closely linked,” said Mr Klich during the debate prior to the vote. Parliament felt that, by implementing a coherent strategy in this area, the EU would increase its credibility and influence in the world. MEPs underlined that there was still room for improvement in areas such as cooperation with third countries on human rights, combating terrorism, and police and judicial cooperation. They noted, however, that human rights standards were questionable in some member states, and pointed, for example, to the CIA rendition programmes. Finally, MEPs urged the Council to activate the passerelle clause in Article 42 of the Treaty in order to take police and judicial cooperation forward. (bc)