The plenary session of the European Parliament (EP), which started in Srasbourg on Monday, is to debate and vote on a final report on the illegal operations in Europe by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on Wednesday.
The final report was presented by a temporary committee by the EP, the assembly of the European Union (EU). It was finalized after twelve months of hearings, more than 30 meetings, seven official delegations to different countries, analyses and testimony.
In November 2005, news report of secret CIA detention centers in Eastern Europe quickly evolved into a series of high-profile investigations across Europe.
In December 2005, the EP's Civil Liberties Committee and Foreign Affairs Committee urged the EU assembly to open its own inquiries. In January 2006, the EP adopted a resolution to set up a temporary committee to do the job.
According to the EP's website, the draft final report concludes that "at least 1245 flights operated by the CIA flew into European airspace or stopped over at European airports between the end of 2001 and the end of 2005".
"Temporary secret detention facilities in European countries may have been located at US military bases," it says.
During the four-day plenary session, newly-elected EP President Hans-Gert Poettering will make his inaugural address setting out his priorities for the next two and a half years.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country holds the current EU presidency and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso will respond.
The EU assembly will debate and vote on a resolution on the forthcoming European Council on the Lisbon strategy to be held in Brussels on 8 and 9 March.
The House will also debate on two reports on waste from the EP Environment Committee.
The first puts forward binding targets for reducing waste by 2010 and rejects European Commission proposals to modify the existing five-stage "waste hierarchy," and the second looks at the European Commission's proposed long-term strategy for preventing and recycling waste.
(Xinhua News Agency February 13, 2007)
