EU extends probe into CIA activities in Europe

The European Parliament today voted to continue its investigation into alleged CIA secret prisons and flights in Europe for another six months, to determine whether European countries have colluded in human rights violations and breached the continent’s civil liberties treaties.

The MEPs endorsed an interim report drafted by Italian Socialist Giovanni Claudio Fava, which says that the CIA or other US services have been directly responsible for the abduction and detention of terror suspects on European territory and their rendition to the Americans following the September 11, 2001, terror attacks in the United States.

The report, endorsed by 389 votes to 137, with 55 abstentions, also says the rules for governing the activities of secret services in the EU member states are inadequate and calls on governments to establish how European airspace, civil and military airports and Nato bases are being used by the US secret services.

However, the report also says that no evidence of secret prisons in the EU has been revealed during the investigation, which started in January.