MEPs in CIA-prison row

By Judith Crosbie

Date: 09/03/06

A row has broken out among MEPs on the temporary committee investigating alleged CIA prisons and rendition flights in Europe over the political agenda and direction of the committee.

The criticism came after this week's hearing (6 March) saw two members of the Belgian Senate appear before the committee. They said they were unable to discuss a report into CIA activity in Belgium because their Senate had yet to discuss the report.

For some MEPs, this mishap was exacerbated because the head of the Italian intelligence and security services General Nicol- Pollari, who also appeared before the committee on Monday, returned to Rome before members had a chance to question him fully so that the two representatives from Brussels could be seen at their scheduled time.

After the hearing, the Spanish Liberal deputy Ignasi Guardans questioned the commitment to the inquiry of the two main political groups, the EPP-ED and the Socialists, given that the national political parties that dominated these groups were present in many governments across Europe.

Guardans said there was a "political agenda" at work in the committee and he criticised the way it was being managed.

"The committee is losing its direction, if this happens it will do nothing and it will fail," he said. "The EPP will pretend it is working but in practical terms it's not really an inquiry committee."

Sarah Ludford, a UK Liberal deputy and vice-chairman of the committee, said after Monday's hearing that she had a "mild level of anxiety" over the direction of the committee. "If after four months we get nowhere, who do you think would be happy? You would have to say the governments of Europe."

She said Monday's hearing, where the Belgian representatives were unable to discuss their report was probably just a "cock-up". She added: "We can't afford cock-ups...we need to be on our guard to make sure that nobody who might be up to mischief would get any purchase on the committee."

Asked if she thought there were signs that the German or other national government was trying to influence the committee's work, Ludford said: "There could be an impulse coming from Berlin." The spotlight was on Germany in particular, she argued, because of the cases of Khaled el-Masri, a Kuwaiti with German citizenship, who was abducted to Afghanistan and six Bosnians taken to Guantánamo.

"You don't have to be a major conspiracy theorist to worry about the big groups because countries like Spain and the UK are under the spotlight," she said, although she admitted that she did not have any "solid indications".

The chairman of the committee, Portuguese Conservative deputy Carlos Coelho, criticized MEPs wanting to make "political points". "We are at the beginning of our work and it is not fair to begin stating [such] things. It is too early to receive clear answers," he said. He added that he hoped Pollari would be able to return to Brussels for further questioning.

On the issue of member states influencing the committee, Coelho said this was "nonsense". "We are not here for our governments, we are here representing the citizens," he said.

Article reports that a row had broken out among MEPs on the Temporary Committee investigating alleged CIA prisons and rendition flights in Europe over the political agenda and direction of the committee. The criticism came after a hearing on 6 March 2006 saw two members of the Belgian Senate appear before the committee.

European Parliament: Temporary committee of inquiry: Alleged use of European countries by the CIA for the transportation and illegal detention of prisoners (TDIP) http://europarl.europa.eu/activities/expert/committees/presentation.do?committee=2073&language=EN

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