[autom.vertaling] De beweringen van de CIA: Leden van het Europese Parlement betreuren de tegenzin van de Poolse overheid in dienst te nemen (en)

A delegation of MEPs ended a three-day visit to Warsaw on Friday expressing regret at the lack of cooperation from the Polish authorities with the European Parliament's ongoing investigation into alleged use of European countries by the CIA for the rendition and illegal detention of terrorist suspects.

The head of the delegation, Carlos Coelho (EPP-ED, PT), thanked the journalists, NGO representatives, intelligence and airport officials who had agreed to meet them. "I regret, however," he said, "the fact that political authorities from the Polish government and Parliament were not as kind: some government members rejected the invitation, others initially accepted to see us and later refused to come. Finally, there were some high officials were willing to meet us but they never got permission from their superiors."

"The behaviour of Polish authorities has been quite different compared to the good level of cooperation we got from officials from Romania," Mr Coelho added, referring to the other European country alleged to have hosted CIA secret prisons.

Among those who did agree to meet MEPs were the former head of the Foreign Intelligence Agency Zbigniew Siemiatkowski, the former and current chairmen of the board of Szymany airport - Jerzy Kos and Jaroslaw Jurczenko - and the undersecretary of state in the Prime Minister's Chancellery, Marek Pasionek.

Parliament's rapporteur Claudio Fava (PES, IT) said: "We are only asking for the same cooperation as from all European countries, both from the officials from the six countries we have visited so far and from the other government representatives who have come to testify in front of our committee in Brussels".  In any case, he concluded, "the fact that we happen to be here just few days before regional elections should not be taken for electoral purposes, the work of our mission should not be used for different domestic political readings".

What next?

Speaking to journalists about the outcome of the meetings in Warsaw, Mr Coelho concluded: "I am afraid sometimes we need to remind our European partners that the EU is much more than a common market. We in the committee will continue working until the end of our mandate to ensure that freedom, democracy and respect for human rights will be preserved on European soil in the future". In that regard, Mr Coelho recalled the sanctions set out in the EU treaty for breaches of fundamental rights, including suspension of voting rights in the Council. "Our task now is to come back to Brussels and give an assessment of our mission in Poland to other MEPs. It will be up to the Committee as a whole and later to the plenary of the Parliament to draft the final conclusions and decide which measures to take accordingly". 

The delegation arrived in Warsaw on Wednesday 8 November, and was composed of Mr Coelho, Mr Fava and eight other MEPs: Jas Gawronski (EPP-ED, IT); Giulietto Chiesa (PES, IT); Sophia In 't Veld (ALDE, NL); Cem Özdemir (Greens/EFA, DE); Giusto Catania (GUE/NGL, IT); Konrad Szymanski (UEN, PL); Boguslaw Rogalski (IND/DEM, PL) and Ryszard Czarnecki (NA, PL). Three more Polish members took also part in the meetings -Barbara Kudrycka (EPP-ED); Jozef Pinior (PES) and Miroslaw Piotrowski (IND/DEM).

06/11/2006

Temporary Committee on the alleged use of European countries by the CIA for the transport and illegal detention of prisoners

Chair : Carlos Coelho (EPP-ED, PT)

Delegation to Warsaw