EU May Suspend Nations With Secret Prisons

[corksean]

BERLIN (AP) - The United States has told the European Union it needs more time to respond to media reports that the CIA set up secret jails in some European nations and transported terror suspects by covert flights, the top EU justice official said Monday.

Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Franco Frattini also warned that that any of the 25 bloc nations found to have operated secret CIA prisons could have their EU voting rights suspended.

The Council of Europe - the continent's main human rights watchdog - is investigating the allegations, and EU justice official Jonathan Faul last week formally raised the issue with White House and U.S. State Department representatives, Frattini said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5442824,00.html

[Elidor]

1. "needs more time to respond"

"Could you give us a few weeks to think of a good story?"

[tx_dem41]

2. Well thats one good way for the bigger Western European nations..

to solve their Eastern European problems.

[Spazito]

3. Good, it's a start at least, imo

Isolation of countries participating in this atrocity is a must, imo. It is past time to call the bush admin's illegal actions to account in as many ways as possible.

I have to wonder how much money the U.S. is funneling to the governments of the countries that are 'housing' the black holes of the CIA?

[Vidar]

4. Bravo, EU.

[pushycat]

5. Is the K Hughes rapid response capability just a myth?

Needs more time = more time to bribe whomever it takes to get this shoved under the carpet.

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[corksean]

7. Sounds like they are telling these Eastern European countries that

want EU membership that they have to "pick their team", can't be in the EU AND kow-tow to US military demands. With the amount of economic pressure that the US can bring to bear in some of these countries the outcome is far from predictable and has the potential to bring this whole affair on to the front pages.
It's not like the EU to be so upfront on an issue like this, in the past any confrontation has been trade related. This could get interesting.......

[DBoon]

8. Like Europeans have any real experience...

... with secret detentions and torture.


:sarcasm:

[sabra]

9. Still No U.S. Comment On CIA Jails

http://wcbstv.com/topstories/topstories_story_332131206.html

Still No U.S. Comment On CIA Jails

(CBS) BERLIN The United States has told the European Union it needs more time to respond to media reports that the CIA set up secret jails in some European nations and transported terror suspects by covert flights, the top EU justice official said Monday.

Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Franco Frattini also warned that that any of the 25 bloc nations found to have operated secret CIA prisons could have their EU voting rights suspended.

"I would be obliged to propose to the Council (of EU Ministers) serious consequences, including the suspension of voting rights in the Council," said Frattini on the margins of a conference of EU defense experts.

Frattini's comments came as the Council of Europe — the continent's main human rights watchdog — is investigating the allegations. EU justice official Jonathan Faul last week formally raised the issue with White House and U.S. State Department representatives, Frattini said.

[Judi Lynn]

10. The article mentions some very interesting aspects of this situation:

Frattini said suspending EU voting rights would be justified under the EU treaty, which stipulates that the bloc is founded on the principles of liberty, democracy, respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law, and that a persistent breach of these principles can be punished.

Clandestine detention centers would violate the European Convention on Human Rights.
(snip)

Reports of secret CIA flights followed the allegations of secret prisons, as more and more countries have decided to open investigations into the issue. Frattini said if the flights took place without the knowledge of local authorities, they would be violations of international aviation agreements.
(snip)

The claim _Bush's administration needs some time to "evaluate" this is an insult to everyone.

What they need to do is to repair all the damage they've done (impossible) and to go into exile immediately.

[saddemocrat]

11. oh....

:toast:
YAH!

[Hyernel]

12. Which EU countries are suspected?

Is Poland (never forget them) in the EU? Will Britain be effected?