European Parliament
Ludford (ALDE ).
I thank the presidency of the Council for that reply, but I am bound to say that I find it, yet again, disappointing. The European Union is supposed to have a human rights policy under Articles 6 and 7 of the EU Treaty. We have the Charter of Fundamental Rights and we are constructing an area of freedom, security and justice. We insert human rights clauses in external agreements. Indeed, I heard the President of the Council say this morning that in future we will have anti-terrorism clauses in those agreements.
Yet when dealing with our most powerful and important international partner, the European Union has not reached a common position or made – as I understand it – any formal
démarche
to the United States. Today a lawyer for some of the remaining British detainees has described the stance of the UK Government as craven. How would the minister describe the European Union stance overall, when some of our citizens and residents are still under illegal detention, being abused and even tortured and denied either release or a fair trial? Why is the European Union, as such, not making formal representations?

