Follow-up to the resolution of Parliament of 11 February 2015 on the US Senate report on the use of torture by the CIA (debate)
Sophia in 't Veld, on behalf of the ALDE Group. – Mr President, I was a member of the committee of inquiry into the CIA renditions programme and the Flight Stats about 10 years ago now. You might ask why we are still discussing this after 10 years. Why are we still repeating the same statements? But I can tell you that I will never tire of this until justice is done.
We can all talk about whether the legal framework was in place at the time or whether it is a matter of national sovereignty, but actually I get the feeling that the Council and the Member States are hiding behind legalistic arguments. If it is true, as Minister Koenders says, that national security is a purely national matter then I would like to understand why it was that the Member State governments back in, I believe, October 2001 collectively decided to allow CIA flights in European airspace.
They collectively decided that, but now they are hiding behind the argument that it is a national matter. When it is about accountability and about responsibility, all of a sudden it is a national matter. No, I think that if the governments at the time had the courage to take that decision collectively, then they should now be accountable and responsible collectively as well, and not hide behind these arguments.
Then you say, Minister Koenders, but we have the judiciary and we have a solid judicial framework. Well, I actually observed that Member State governments of different colours (irrespective of the colour, I might say) have gone out of their way to frustrate judicial investigations and prosecutions. They have tried everything in their power to stop those processes.
You mentioned the word ‘shame’. I very much agree with you. It is an absolute shame that 10 years after the first report in the European Parliament we are still talking about this and, as Dick Marty said at the time, it is like talking to a rubber wall. It is as if we are not heard. But we will keep discussing this until justice is done. No impunity in the European Union, because that, Minister Koenders, that is shameful.