CIA: Parliament must be pro-active in seeking evidence

12.00.00am GMT Sun 13th Nov 2005

European Parliament civil liberties committee met this evening in the presence of Commissioner Frattini to decide how best to proceed in the investigation into allegations of CIA activities on EU territory. Chairman of the EP Civil Liberties committee Jean-Marie CAVADA (UDF, France) declared: "The Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee is competent in the field of human rights as well as for violations of human rights and fundamental rights. Within that framework, the committee will seek the truth".

Sarah LUDFORD (LibDem, UK), who proposed that Parliament open an investigation, said: "I welcome the fact that the Commission and the Parliament agree on the need to follow closely the results of the Council of Europe inquiry in order to assess if Article 7 of the EU Treaty, which provides for sanctions such as suspension of voting rights for human rights violations, should be invoked".

"The key question is how-pro-active are we in seeking the evidence? Commissioner Frattini needs to be more probing in his questioning of Member States and the US authorities and not just take their demands at face value. He also needs to press EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana as well as EU counter-terrorism coordinator Gijs de Vries for any light they can shed on the allegations", Sarah Ludford added.