Transcripts For CSPAN British House Of Commons 20141222

Oftentimes really discouraging to young sign actives who are thinking about thetting into this field is the 2308g. Whats your chance . If you have a great idea about cancer research. Its preclinical. Youre working in an Academic Institution but you have that mixed idea. Where are i going to get funded . The n. I. H. Whats your nans of getting funded . The chance is about 16, in the cancer industry its even lower, 110. National institutes of Health Director francis collins. Tomorrow at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on span. Next, british Prime Minister David Cameron taking questions at the house of commons. Then the European Parliament discussing c. I. A. Investigation techniques. And at 11k p. M. , another chance pavelitch. A. katy british Prime Minister David Cameron answered questions on Climate Change policy and relations with russia. He condemned the attacks in australia and pakistan. This is about 35 minutes. Questions to the prime. Nister Prime Minister. Thank you, mr. Speaker. Im sure the whole house will join me in condemning the outrageous that have shocked the world in recent days. The siege of the cafe in sydney ended in tragedy but was accompanied by heroic so typical of that country. What happened several thousand miles away in a school in pakistan is utterly heartbreaking. Massacre of the innocents which has left the world numb. The world stands head bows with pakistan today. Words can k. But words cannot defeat the men of violence. Let this be the time when every nation comes togethers and said its enough. We will defeat this evil. We send our warmest christmas wishes to the armed fors, in particular in afghanistan and west africa. Were forever indebted for the sacrifices they make. Can i ask about the comments about the incidents in australia and pakistan. And best wishes to our military who might be serving abroad. The southwest has the wroig the largest increase in unemployment in the United Kingdom. To continue to realize its full economic potential, does my friend agree the premises are three Rail Transport point plan . My honorable friend has campaigned over and over again for the important improvements in these rail links. He knows what is being done to help the southwest in that regard. I received a presentation from the task force, so we are going to take forward each of that threepoint plan in the work we do in future to make sure theres Better Services for people in the southwest. On the issue of unemployment. The claimant is now folded by 42 since the election. What these figures show nationally, claim account falling for the 25th consecutive month birmingham i think is an important moment for our country is unemployment is now below two million and wages are rising faster than inflation, something im sure will be welcome across the house. I want to join the Prime Minister to in sympathy about the slaughter of innocent children. Its shocked the world. We stand in solidarity with the grieving families and the people in pakistan and the fight against terrorism. My condolences go to the families of those who died and to the australian people. I pay tribute to all our troops serving around the world. They do our country proud and show the utmost courage and bravery. Mr. Speaker, the under went pent office of budget responsibility established by the chancellor, independent expert device take total public spending, disclosure of National Income in eight years. Why does he believe the o. B. R. Has joined the b. B. C. In a conspiracy . The opposition says about the atrocities taking place. I also welcome his welcome for the office of budget responsibility. We still rec the days of the federal forecast, the fake figures and all that we had to put up with. If hes going to if hes going to quote, me might want to read the complete quote. Let me do that for the benefit of the house. It says the closest equivalent implies that by 20192020, day toy day spending will be at its lowest level since 2002 and 2003 in real terms. In 2002 to three, mr. Speaker, in my memory was after five years of a labor government when the honorable gentleman was an advisory in the treasury. Presumably hes now going to tell us it was a time of deprivation. I dont seem to remember that being the message at the time. He spent four years saying we spent too much. Now hes saying we spent too little. And the reality is he cant run away from the office of budget responsibility figures, because they say, and this is the full quote, they take public spending to its lowest share in 18 years. If you say theyre wrong as a proportion of National Income,ened it would be rather the same as it was in 19999 after two years of a labor government. The fact is this. I think i think that after seven years of economic growth, we should be having a surplus. We should be fixing the roof when the sun is shining. Is the labor leader really saying that he doesnt think we should run a surplus ever . S that what youre saying . If hes just a little bit patient, in four months time hell get to ask the questions and ill get to answer them. He knowsts talk whats happened. He knows whats happened is the mark slip in the autumn statement, hes been revealed for who he really is. There are over 50 billion pounds, more than the entire amount we spend on schools, half of what we spent spend on the n. H. S. And significantly more than in this parliament. It will do massive damage to services. We have difficult decisions every day since taking over from the sham nls we inherited. And everyone can now see that his pretense which lasted for about one week of caring about the deficit is over. This is what the institute for fiscal studies says about his policy. Under labor government there would be much more borrowing and therefore more government debt. They havent learned a single thing in the last four years. More taxes, more borrowing, all the things that got us into this mess in the first place. Hes boor hes boroughing more than he planned. Hes broken his promise. The difference is well cut the deficit ever year. He wants to go back to the 1930s. Hes got 7 billion pounds of tax cuts on top. Before the last election, mr. Speaker, he said this. You cant talk about tax reduction unless you show how it can be paid for. The public are stufmente what is it going to be . Public cuts in services or a rise in va t. . What this goes to show is that if you get on the top of the financial finances, you can cut taxes for people. Thats it. Isnt it interesting on this of all days, not a word from him about the in all unemployment. That is the truth. Remember the predictions. They told us there was no growth and there was growth. They told us there were no jobs and there were jobs. They told us the deficit would go down. The deficit has come down. Theyve got absolutely nothing to say about the economy because theyve been wrong on every single count. Mr. Speaker, hes crying everything is fixed. It may be fixed, his Christmas Card list but it isnt fixed to lots of people in the country. He didnt answer he didnt answer the question on va t. , did he . We have no plans to put up va t. Then barely two months later he 1 2. P va t. From 7 would he rule out a rise in va t. . We dont need to raise takes. Weve got a plan for efficiencies in spending. Its the Party Opposite that doesnt have a plan. These are what has changed for real people. 588,000 people have a job this year who didnt have a job last year. Longterm unemployments fallen, youth unemployments fallen. Mr. Speaker, it is christmas. We should all enter into the christmas spirit. I have to say plrks ive had my Christmas Present a little bit early. This is the document being sent to every labor person. In case they havent had the time to read it, let me advice them if they go to page 16, be patient, if they go to page 16, its there in black and white. Managing the economy it says. The crivets have a 17point lead. Thank you this may be chris mass. Mr. Speaker, i hope its christmas. He gets to reflect on his year. Hes lost two minutes of parliament. He lost Something Else and he brought a new meaning to the phrase conviction ambition. E struth hes given us uncompassionate conservatism. May they be exposed for who they really are. It isnt about balancing the budget. Its about slapping if state. That is the election choice. Its on a day when unemployment has fallen, inflation is down, our economys growing faster than anywhere else. Hes got absolutely nothing to say. I have to say, mr. Speaker, i almost feel sorry for labor. P. s, they cant talk about the deficit because its fallen. They cant faulk about growth because its rising. They cant talk about jobs. They cant talk about immigration. They cant talk about their leader because hes a complete waste of space. No wonder for labor m. P. S, this ear is a silent night. Thank you, thank you, mr. Speaker. Order his voice must be heard. Thank you mr. Speaker. First of all, may i concur entirely the Prime Ministers words and the ah palling tragedy that unfolded around the world. Bearing in mind the continuing success of our longterm , my right dition honorable friend please reassure the house that bearing that in future torrey or coalition government. Actually agree with my honorable friend that you can only have a Strong Defense budget and Strong Defense forces if you have a strong economy. Our Defense Budget is the biggest in the eu. Its the second largest in the nato. We meet the 2 guideline of g. D. P. Because of the success of our economic plan, were able to mmit to over 160 billion pounds over the next 10 years. Thats why youre going to see the aircraft carriers, the a400 ms, the submarines with incredible equipment rolling off the proiks lines in our country to help keep us safe. And nigel north. The terrible slaughter of the innocents in pakistan yesterday shocked the world. Its another example of obscene atrocities being visited upon children in various parts of the world by these barbaric forces. Another example was the attack on 200 School Children abducted in northwest nigeria. At the time other governments pledged their support to assist in the hunt for those children, what can the Prime Minister offer in that regard . What we do in all these cases is see what expertise and assets that we have that we can help bring to play too help the governments trying to combat these problems. In nigeria, we did for a period lend the expertise of our fighter jets with the raptors in order to provide imageling to help find the girls. We continued to work with the Nigerian Government in any way we can. With pakistan, we believer they must confront terrorism in all of its forms. It is taking steps to do that. I think today is the day to redouble our support and efforts. The whole world should do the same. To say if the Pakistan Government wants to root out terror and none of this can be justified, it has the support of the whole world. Will you join me in thanking the businesses, the schools, my team, the demredge organizing a weeklong festival of manufacturing and engineering opened by the prince of wales. And does he agree with me that by focusing on innovation and productivity, this government will deliver more and higher standard of living. Certainly join my honorable friend. People might know this is a week long festival showcasing local manufacturing success stories. We watched a 3d bike being printed in metal. It was extremely impressive. What we need is to continue with the longterm plan which is delivering a more balanced recovery as well as construction, as well as services and our commitment to increasing the number of afriend ises to helping countries with righthand, to help keep tax rates low. Mr. Speaker, millions of people will work extra hours this christmas in difficult and often lowpaid jobs so that they can send money to relatives living abroad. Their remittances to subsa hare an africa alone account for more than donor aid. Their money will first be be hit by fees and charges often as high as 15 . Five years ago, the g 8 committee to reducing this transfer tax to 5 lfment the Prime Minister join me in calling on the companies to cut their charges for christmas as a first step to meeting the g 8 promise to families in some of the poorest countries in the world. Prime minister. The lady is absolutely right. Highlight the importance of remittances. When we look at the amount of money that goes from our country n the form of remittances to countries like somalia and other countries, yes, we should look at every way we can and we are about to help these things take place. There have been problems in the past to make sure that we applied Money Laundering and other pirble issues to those. Were looking at what we can to keep the charges down. One of the characteristics of the decade leading up to the financial crisis was the trillion pound increase in financial debt. Finite by a l be finance bubble. My friend is absolutely right. One of the changes weve made is to put in place proper arrange jmingts for the bank of england to call time on the level of indebted innocence the economy and make sure that regulation of the mortgage market, for instance, is properly put in place, so that is one of the important lessons. I have to say to the Party Opposite, one of the other important lessons is that when youve had a long period of economic success, you should be trying to pay down your debt. Thats what fixing the roofer when the sun is shining is all about. I welcome the fall in unemployment but its still too high. Would you tell us what the principal candidates are for working age beftsdz beftsd cuts . Let me join him in welcoming the foal in on unemployment. In the northeast over the lars year, unemployment is down by 11,000 and that is welcome. In terms of this issue of addressing the cost of well fare, i think we should be frank about this. I was discussing calmly earlier with the leader of your position, whoever is Prime Minister of the next election is going to have to make public spending reductions. If you leave the welfare bill as it is or if like labor you vote this afternoon to add two billion pounds to the welfare bill, thats what theyre talking about. You have to take that money out of the Education Department or the Health Department or policing. We think you shouldnt do that. We think, yes, there are reductions in welfare that can be made. We will make them. That will keep tax down and make sure we have good public services. Mr. Speaker, for people starting their careers or newly married couples or others, the prospect of owning their first home is much desired but difficult. How will you help my people make that move . The first step is to go back on the help buy scheme. I think 70,000 people now. It enables peoples who work hard, can afford the mortgage payments to take out that mortgage and buy that home because they dont need such a big deposit. Thats the first thing we shall do and we shall continue with that. The second is we want to build starter homes that are 20 below the market rate. These should be homes that young people can buy. Theyll be reserved for people under 40. This is for people who want to do the right thing and under the conservative government theyll have homes they can buy. Thank you, mr. Speaker. My 78yearold mother was left bleeding on the Kitchen Floor from a fall. Isnt this indicative of the ealth service . What is indicative of the l. H. S. Is 2 fact that there are more paramedics and more ambulances than when this government came to power. The reason for that is we didnt listen to the Party Opposite who said that yir responsible to increase health spending. Instead we put 12. 7 billion pounds into it. Where any Ambulance Trust false down, that should be looked into very carefully. Ill look into this case as i do with any other. Thank you, mr. Speaker. Dont you agree with me that it s not unhelpful about border controls and immigration. Anyone who thinks that is out of tough and perhaps they should be moved on. I think my friend is right. You know, our job as elected politicians is to respond to peoples concerns and address them. For the y i fear government of labor and peace. What are they going to talk about . The figures today theres not much point talking about unemployment because its plummeting. They have nothing to say about the deficit. They spent one week telling us the deficit mattered. I think leadership issues, theyll want to skip over. I think its going to be a very difficult time for them. Thank you very much, mr. Speaker. I dont know if the Prime Minister will have received any Christmas Cards bearing the husky dogs. Meone said that the u. K. s changing act should be scrapped. Scrapped. I dont think i have that one. I spent an hour yesterday discussing these issues. If legislation we have in place is delivering cuts in carbon emissions. What see is the worlds first reinvestment bank beating the rest of the world in doing that. We have doubled the amount of investment going into Renewable Energy compared with the previous two parliaments. Thats whats happening under our government. Thank you, mr. Speaker. Poims, can you confirm that due to the Long Campaign led by my friend and the governments longterm economic plan, my nstituents this winter cant my honorable friend has worked for this outcome. Im happy to say that the Commission Group has announced an stepping to the Opening Hours of the urgent care center. This will be in place until the local urgent care review reports. Further, i can confirm that the government has set aside 230 Million Pounds for the redevelopment of the chase farm site. So that is very good news for the people of his constituency. What we are doing is investing n lot health services. 2,500 less re are nurses than 2010. Why . He hasnt been studying the documents he gets sent by his own party or the figures. There are new figures out on the n. H. S. Id be happy to give him the figures. We are saying there were 2,000 extra nurses, mr. Speaker, that was wrong. There are 3,000 more nurses. We were saying until they recently there was 7,000 more doctors under this government. Im ashamed to say thats wrong, too the figure is 8,000 more doctors. The n. H. S. Is performing well because we put the 911 and made the reform. Keep moving can i commend can i commend my friend with some the e from carl marx who corresponds observed that these vital interests should render Great Britain the honest and unyielding opponent of the russian pro ducks of annexation and went on in the russians team of annexation, the interest of democracy and of england go hand in hand. Does my right humble friend agree the United Kingdom, europe, and yes, indeed, the whole world, one of our most important priorities in 2015 baha be to see that roger Security Council behaves in the interest of Prime Minister. I agree much agree. I havent spent as much time studying carl marx as he does. I dont know what goes on in camden these days. In this respect carl marx was right, that the interests of the United Kingdom and the democracy do go together. We should stand up to russian. We let the led the way in europe to make sure there were sanctions. And its shown that i think it isnt possible for russia to be part of the International Financial system. That, i think is what is being demonstrated and we could keep up the pressure. Cht he the levee controlled framework will rise from 2. 3 billion in 2012 to 9. 8 billion in 2020. At a time when people are struggling to fix their homes. The control frame work has been fixed and it sets the overall amount of sthreafments can go into Renewable Energy. Hemes who are providing jobs i welcome that investment and im not sure what his view is. Will the Prime Minister confirm that if he and the chancellor deliver their plans for the economy theyll take public spending back to a level that was being delivered by the then labor chancellor but only because he was bound by an election pledge to stick to my economic plan. He had inherited from a. Nservative my right old friend gives us a very important historical perspective. He does come back to this point. The party seems to be basing their entire Economic Policy on some throw away mark on the b. B. C. At about 10 gone six on a monday morning. Get public spending back to the level it was in 2002 when he was sitting in the treasury. Im afraid his whole idea like all his economic policies has collapsed within five minutes. Mr. Speaker. The most recent report number 163 on inquality shows that the u. K. Economy is 20 bigger if the tax policies to the bottom 40 of citizens. Come to find out, its the fle and consider seriously tax cut by having the middle annoy now some people with ses of cost of living [shouting] i was just about getting the hang of it, actually. I think the problem the problem with the labor partys attempted narrative is it simply isnt true. They talk about inequality, but its lower than it was at the election. They talk about poverty but there are 600,000 fewer people in poverty than there were at the elections. They talk about Child Poverty but there are fewer children in poverty. This afternoon well talk about children. There are 390,000 fewer children in households where no one works than there were in 2010. Those are the facts. They may be inconvenient but lets have a look at them. My constituents Charity Workers were last week facing a tax bill of more than 8,000 pounds a they moved into their first home. , you ted in the journal wing declared that he was blown away by the chancellors statement and giving some of the money to be safe from charity. What message to firsttime buyers . Well, im very grateful. The message that the statement sends is that we are on the side of the people. We work hard. We want to get on. They want to own their own flat or their own home. Weve cut funds so they can afford those houses. Constituents , my. 72 pounds a week is o find out that actually that four billion pounds than it was in 2010. When is this Prime Minister going to tackle the real cause of the increase in housing, which are low wages and high rentals . The point is the labor party have opposed every single change to welfare, every single change to housing benefits. This afternoon theyre going to vote in this house for an extra two billion pounds of welfare spending. All this in a week when they mean to tell us how much they care about the deficit. That is why the British Public will never trust the labor party with the economy again. Thank you mr. Speaker. However, there is some skepticism about it actually happening given the previous labor government shelled their statement in 2009. Provide me and my constituents reassurance that future conservatives can be relied on to deliver this scheme. I can certainly give my honorable fleand assurance. I know hes campaigned tirelessly. These routes are absolutely vital. The reason we can give him that assurance is because we have a longterm economic plan. Because weve made that success, we can commit to these read schemes. Liz mckinney. This government is using a range of measures including cold weather payments, warm home discounts and an increase in pensions. Weve im proved the warmth of homes by 2015. This takes money off peoples bills and inns lathe their homes to make sure they can stay warm. An interesting response but my constituent William Sullivan has written to me to say how appalled he is that last year, over 18,000 people in england and wales didse simply because of the cold. What guarantee can the Prime Minister give me in a no more of my stwetch went will suffer in the cold this winter. What i would say, my lady, is every death in the swirnt a tragedy. Last year the number was too high. Thats actually lower than it was in 2008nine. We will continue with the longterm patient work of the warm homes discount, keeping the fuel payment, the cold weather payment. That is the right way forward. Mr. Malcolm bruelings. Can the Prime Minister confirm that spending under this coalition government. This has been passed on to scotland. Its been cut by is . Can he also be aware that theres a 70 million short fall on funding. It lies firmly good the scottish government. My honorable friend is absolutely right. We have increased spending by 12. 7 Million Pounds. Hat translates into an increase. Labor chose to cut instead of investing in it. And the golt has not translated the full amount. When you look at emergency, we need to do better in england but our performance is well better than it is in whales or scotland or northern ireland. The moral of this story is you need a longterm conservative plan to deliver these advances. Order youve been watching Prime Ministers questions from the british house of commons. The British Parliament is now in recess for the holidays. Question time returns wednesday, january 7, 2015. You can watch anytime at cspan. Org where you can find this and other British Public affairs programs. The next European Parliament discussing the u. S. Senate report on c. I. A. Interrogation techniques. At 11 p. M. , q a. Then David Cameron taking questions at the house of commons. On wednesday, members of the European Parliament debated the release of a Senate Report on c. I. A. Interrogations. Some members welcomed the the release of the report and arced that the eu should take further action. This is a onehour portion of he debate from strossberg. Thank you, president. The United States are an important partner in fighting terrorism for the European Union, but certain serious concerns and differences have existed in respect to certain aspects of the United States criticism policy. European union has started dialogue on these issues and today we are debating a Senate Report on a proceeding u. S. Program which was firmly concluded almost six years ago. Share the view expressed by president obama according to which these techniques run counter to our use and are not helpful in combating terrorism. Its important that we garn dee this doesnt happen again, and thats why we welcome the publication of the report and also the following public debate. It shows transparency and openness in learning lessons from errors committed in the past. On several occasions, the council has stated that the struggle against terrorism has to happen in full International Law including the question of Human Rights International humanitarian laws and the right to refugees. In respect the respect of International Law is a crucialing aspect of the criticism strategy followed by the European Union. When the need for the existence of the secret c. I. A. Sentence was revealed in 2006, the council stressed that the European Union it was was heavily committed to fully banning torture. And also cruel inhumane or degrading treatment. In the Senate Report, it says that the legal reasons help authorize the various techniques which are mentioned therein. From 2006 on wards, the european relative n in to the United States and that dialogue has allowed us to put a series of questions and concerns to the United States. It gave us the opportunity to stress how important it was to respect human rights and International Law. Its important to stress that president obama formerly concluded that the c. I. A. Program just a few days into his mandate through a decree president obama also banned any form of torture or mistreatment and the socalled enhanced interrogation techniques and secret detention. He asked that the c. I. A. Should no longer run the Detention Centers and banned the use of these interrogation techniques. Later in a joint statement made in june, 2009, the eu and the United States welcomed, and i quote, the indepth reexamination of u. S. Policy on detention, transfer, and interrogation processes in combating terrorism, and Greater Transparency about the practices followed in the past on this policy. As well as elimination of the secret Detention Centers. Terrorism can only be combated if we have faith in our own fundamentals, whether its violation of human rights and the rights of law themselves can force people maybe to have recourse to terrorism. There can be no justification, however, for that kind of behavior. Now, these policies are intended to fight terrorism but nonetheless they can create circumstances for its diffusion. Ver the years, the your honour European Union has taken specific steps in order to promote changes to u. S. Policy. In 2009, for example, the European Union established a frame work which fa sill dated welcoming in eu Member States. Within the framework of the reviced review of the criticism policy in the United States and comprised with the rule of International Laws, steps have been taken in awaiting the pending political problems being solved. In specific areas of afghanistan, iraq, syria, there the eu combating terrorism has adopted an approach based on preterrorists should be prd and ruled against according to the rules of law. Courts have long experience in dealing with cases connected to terrorism. An inquiry is crucial to check that the plans are correct. And also for the ordinary courts have put hundreds of terrorists behind bars. The treaty of the European Union stipulates that the security of each member state is the exetuss of the member state. That means that intelligence agencies in Member States and their work fall outside the scope of the eu and in institutions. And inquiries into and presumed involvement in the c. I. A. Policy is competence to have United States and not the European Union. In conclusion, the eu Member States are bound by using conventional human rights and the chament on fundamental rights thats taken to combat terrorism monitored by the European Court of human rights here in straussberg. Since it came into force, the European Court of justice is competent to reexamine emplets u. Legislation on internal security matters. That provides a robust context which provides guarantees within the frame work of which we can and should fight the discourage of terrorism. Thank you for your attention. Thank you very much. For your statement. Now on behalf of the european commission, commissioner aramopolous. Thank you. President of the council, honorable members of the European Parliament, the commission which i represent here today for this matter is like you, appalled by the findings of the United States and the select committee of intelligence on the c. I. A. s detention and interrogation program. Part of which was released on the 9th of december. As you know, most of the yir inquiry remains classified. Is is important as serious violations of fundamental human rights by the u. S. Authorities and by other persons at the service of the c. I. A. Between ate 2001 to january, twirne. As president obama rightly said this week, the actions taken under the c. I. A. Program were contrary to the u. S. Values, recognizing that one of the most affective tools to fight terrorism is to stay true to the valuesaged ideas the United States values and ideas that the United States stands for. This is what led him in the year 2009 to unequivocally ban torture and to that we applauded. Because this is the real point about torture it is just wrong. Totally wrong. Its a crime. Its a criminal act. And it should never be used. Quite shocking. The Committee Findings are not a complete surprise. The existence of secret detention facilities, rendition flights and the allegations of torture and ill treatment of prisoners under c. I. A. Custody in the context of the fight against terrorism by the United States have been a concern since they became public some 10 years ago. Since then, several united ations human rights bodies and council of europe and the European Court of human rights have been unanimous in condemning the practices now described in the study. This house has been engaging on this case since the start. With the decision to set up a committee on inquiry leading to two initiative reports in the year 2007 and in the year 2012 condemning the practices in the need to posting protect fundamental human rights. The European Union which have raised these issues with the United States on several occasions, including in letters by the presidency of the council and in our regular dialogues on criticism and on human rights. The Committee Study is a positive step in confronting publicly and critically the way in which the c. I. A. s responsibilities were discharged in relation to the allegations of torture and iltreatment against suspects during United States custody. The commission believes that the full clarity should be brought to bear on those practices in accordance with international standards, including as regards the individual possibilities for those facts. The eu condemns all forms of torture and ill treatment under any circumstances and the prevention of both force of torture within the European Union and worldwide as a priority of its human rights policy. As the commissioner has repeatedly underlined efforts to combat terrorism should be conducted in a manner that com ports with the rule of law, that respects our common values and complies with our respective obligations under International Law. In particular, International Human rights lawmakers refugee law and humanitarian law. The commission has consistently stressed since the beginning that all concerned Member States should conduct indepth, independent and impartial investigations to establish the. Acts with regard to c. I. A. They should have established responsibilities and enabled victims to obtain compensations for damages. This was recalled in a joint letter sent to all Member States in 2013 by thenvice president redding and commission. We note that the judicial authorities have in the past undertaken investigations in the prosecution, including c. I. A. Agents involved in the abduction, rendition, illegal detention, torture, and ill treatment of suspects under the c. I. A. Detention and interrogation problem. On the same day that the senate Committee Study was released, we learned in the press that the u. S. Military Bagram Detention Center in afghanistan had been closed. Two of the prisoners who had been turned over to afghan authorities were under u. S. Custody since twrue 2002, including several years under c. I. A. Detention without a trial. However, 176 detane takens ill remain in the guantanamo detention facility, including one who will be brought to trial or who have yet been released. The European Union will keep monitoring the situation and keep raising the human rightsrelated aspects of the fight against terrorism with the United States. Thank you. Commissioner, thank you very much. We will now hear from the speakers on behalf of the political groupings. The first to take the floor for two minutes, is monica holmeyer. You have the floor. President , commissioner, i would like to welcome the Council Presidency colleagues. This report which was published by the Senate Committee of the United States is a terribly shocking report. The u. S. President showed shock behavior from the c. I. A. And the images that the u. S. Worldwide was tarnished by it and i can only agree with that statement. I think the issue here is how can we support ideals if we trample on them at the same time . So from my own personal viewpoint, i can only say no, we cannot trample on these core beliefs and ideals. The fundamental rights of people are sacred and cannot be violated. Of course, security is one of those rights, but to use all methods, including torture and brutal interrogation techniques in order to deparn tee security is not something that can be defended, water boarding ell, john mccain said publicly was locked away criminals for water boarding people. So and when it comes to these crimes which can be condemned, these also apply to the c. I. A. When they use the same techniques. Now, we welcome the fact that the report was made public at all. m sure that in a totalitarian state it would not have been possible and not all states would have exposed themselves to this amount of criticism and scrutiny. I very much hope that the us will be strong and democratic enough to see this process through and to drow the draw the necessary kks. Thank you very much. Thank you,. I really hope that the debate we are about to have will serve ets purpose. I beg your pardon for being very direct. I believe its necessary. What do the cases remind you of . Someone was put in a cage and left hanging up. Another detainee was hung up and released over a pole which pen traited his anus or vagina. Popular. S very this is dark ages, inquisitions, these are the things we learned about in school. But what do these cases remind you . During torture they died because of being hyperthermic. A little bit slow down for the benefit of your colleagues and the interpreters. I do my best. If this also reminds you of the middle ages and youre ong, these are the socalled enhanced interrogation methods used by the c. I. A. Theres not a difference in the new conventions were written down and signed. In addition to constitution on human rights and practically all countries of around the world. The United States has signed a convention against torture which specifically prohibits torture also in a state of emergency. I made an introduction. We are also to blame. Since the European Parliament adopted a report on c. I. A. Activities in europe, more than seven years have gone by. Let me repeat. Seven years. Still the your honour Union Countries are hiding the truth. Practically nothing has happened. No one was held accountable. More against terrorism and the respect for human rights are not mutually excluding notions. Victims of war against terror also deserve justice. Torture is immoral and unacceptable and participation of europe in any form in any type of illegal activities used by c. I. A. Is shameful. Its unworthy of democracy, its unworthy of the values on which the European Union is built. Therefore we demand that a full investigation takes place. Impunity is unacceptable just as pretending that nothing is happened and that we are not involved. We demand that measures are adopted that we guarantee effective democratic supervisors over the work of intelligence agencies. We demand that protective measures are taken to ensure that nothing like this happens in europe ever again. Colleagues, sometimes it is very difficult to accept the truth, but we deserve to know it. Were also obliged to make it known to our citizens. We have to face it, because how can we otherwise prevent that we are the ones thank you very much. Group. Lf of the ecr president , colleagues, as you will be aware, the parliament has always been a place of great importance into looking into questions of the cia policies and also the question of the transport by the cia of prisoners. Under the last legislative period, we had six measures voted on on this question through the American Congress has also said that certain eu Member States were involved as well. Poland, for example. And the americans and their practices have been questioned. Now, clearly, i think that we need to have a look at what the European Union has been doing. The European Union says it honor,e owner, to the values of human rights. They should also be defended in third countries as well. We mentioned our history on several occasions. But i think that if these principles are important to us and our allies as well. Yes, clearly we need to strike a