EU:THE EUROPEAN Commission has criticised Ireland and 22 other states for not responding to an inquiry about anti-terrorism policy, which it set up in the wake of the rendition flights controversy, writes JAMIE SMYTHin Brussels
Just Finland, Luxembourg, Poland and Spain have replied to a detailed questionnaire sent by the EU executive to governments last year with a deadline of March 15th. Governments were asked to involve "all relevant national bodies and departments including those in charge of protection of human rights", so that Brussels could put together a full picture of EU states' anti-terrorism activities.
The questionnaire asked a range of questions, including what safeguards each state has in place to ensure secret service personnel are responsible to parliaments. The commission said yesterday that none of the EU states that had failed to respond to the questionnaire had informed Brussels why they chose to ignore it.
"We will take stock after Easter and then send a reminder to those who have not replied yet," said a spokesman for justice commissioner Franco Frattini yesterday, who acknowledged that the executive has no power to force EU states to comply.
The inquiry is the commission's first real response to the controversy sparked by the discovery that the CIA had secretly transported terrorist suspects without trial out of Europe, often to face torture. It was set up following publication of a European Parliament report into CIA activities, which concluded that the US agency had operated more than 1,200 flights throughout Europe. It also criticised 14 EU states, including Ireland, for failing to deal properly with rendition.
"Its [ the inquiry's] purpose is to acquire factual and concrete information on the application of member states' anti-terrorism measures, their effectiveness and compliance with fundamental rights," said the commission spokesman. "This information will help us to identify possible difficulties and needs where necessary of EU action."
Fine Gael TD Simon Coveney, who followed the rendition issue when he was an MEP, said the Government's failure to reply to the inquiry was "unacceptable".
"The Government needs to be seen like all the other countries questioned in the European Parliament report about their role in rendition to fully co-operate with any questions the commission have," he said. "We shouldn't give the impression we have something to hide."
A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice said that the Government's response to the questionnaire had been forwarded to Ireland's embassy in Brussels yesterday for transmission to the commission. "The questionnaire does not include reference to 'CIA activities in Europe', extraordinary rendition, or any other related matters," added the spokeswoman.