US foreign policy takes heavy criticism from MEPs on anniversary of September attacks

Date: 12/09/02

SOME MEPs used yesterday's commemoration in Brussels to criticise US foreign policy and the crackdown on civil liberties which followed the attacks.

The US ambassador to the EU, Rockwell Schnabel, said he had noted the MEPs' remarks and was not surprised by them. 'We're living in a democracy and I respect them for it [criticising his country],' he told European Voice.

Francis Wurtz, leader of the European United Left political group, accused George W. Bush of developing a 'selfish and short-sighted unilateralism', which risks sparking other tragedies.

Liberal group head Graham Watson voiced concerns over the repressive laws on detention without trial which have been introduced in parts of Europe over the past 12 months. New anti-terrorist measures must be tested, he said, against the need to 'uphold the rights of defendants of whatever colour and creed'.

The Greens' Monica Frassoni condemned US retention of the death penalty, adding that the newly-formed International Criminal Court (ICC) should 'not be turned into a farce'. The US is refusing to cooperate with the ICC over fears its servicemen could be prosecuted for war crimes.

And Denmark's Jens-Peter Bonde, leader of the Europe of Democracies and Diversities group, accused the rich world of potentially driving more people to violence by failing to tackle global poverty at last month's Earth Summit in Johannesburg.

Some MEPs used the first commemoration in Brussels of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States to criticise US foreign policy and the crackdown on civil liberties which followed the attacks.