National interests water down CIA report

The Socialist group in the European Parliament, under pressure from its German, UK, Portuguese and Belgian MEPs has put forward amendments to the report on CIA activity in Europe which water down criticism of their governments.

The amendments will be voted on in plenary next week (14 February) when a final version of the report will be adopted. Member states’ governments, keen to ensure that the definitive document does not condemn them specifically for complicity in the abductions, torture and illegal transporting of suspects or for lack of co-operation with the inquiry, have been putting pressure on their MEPs within the Socialist group to win last-minute changes.

Some MEPs have even threatened to vote against the report, compiled by Italian Socialist MEP Claudio Fava if the amendments are not accepted next week.

Ana Gomes, a Portuguese Socialist MEP described the threats as "bluffing". "There are party politics and national politics at play. Not huge numbers but some MEPs are keen to voice the concerns of their own governments," she said.

Claude Moraes, UK Socialist MEP, said the debate within the Socialist group was "hugely sensitive". "There has been a shift in some of the focus from the personal issues around the report to the substance of the report," he said, adding this included a greater focus on testimony by witnesses and the evidence gathered by the committee.

Sections of the report dealing with the role of Geoff Hoon, the UK’s Europe minister, and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German foreign affairs minister, have angered their governments, leading to some new amendments.

An amendment on Hoon reads: "[The committee] welcomes the meeting in London with the UK minister for Europe and the fact that the UK government supplied documents and explanations; notes that the British authorities could not answer all the questions raised by the temporary committee delegation to London."

Amendments on Germany and Portugal welcome national parliamentary inquiries into CIA activity and in the German case it "takes note that, at the moment, these inquiries showed that there was no involvement of German authorities in this illegal abduction [of suspect Khaled El-Masri]".

An amendment on Belgium notes the lack of co-operation by the authorities but the country’s senate’s willingness to help overcome the problems.

Moraes said that it was important that the report had credibility when it went to the member states in the Council of Ministers following the vote in plenary. "This is a one shot deal to go to Council because then it’s out of our hands so it has to have a level of credibility," he said.

The Socialist group also put forward an amendment which would reinsert some of the language removed during a committee vote two weeks ago - with the help of a Socialist vote - on the existence of a secret detention centre in Poland. The amendment now states: "It is not possible to acknowledge nor to deny that secret detention centres were based in Poland."

Fava said he would also accept some changes proposed by the centre-right groups diluting references to treaty articles which would allow sanctions to be brought against member states for human rights violations. Rather than directly calling for such sanctions the amendments state the Council of Ministers and the European Commission should examine if such measures were possible.

The Socialist group in the European Parliament, under pressure from its German, UK, Portuguese and Belgian MEPs has put forward amendments to the report on CIA activity in Europe which water down criticism of their governments.