The European Union's top justice official is warning that the countries hosting secret CIA jails could have their voting rights suspended. Other tough penalties are a possibility also.
According to a
BBC article, the voting rights could be suspended if a country is found
to have breached the bloc's founding principles of human rights, democracy and the rule of law.
.
The article also mentions that such a move would be unprecedented.
Seems like the European Union might be slowly finding its, ahem, balls. Although I still have trouble believing that the threats will result to very drastic action, as the article also says that
A diplomatic source said that to suspend a member state's voting rights in the Council of the European Union, the other 25 member states would have to vote unanimously to take such a step, which would be unlikely to happen in practice.
Yeah, no kidding, especially if a couple of those other member states are in the same trouble! But even if this does not lead to suspension of voting rights, it still might lead to other action against the countries in question, and it does finally seem that the EU is taking the matter seriously. Perhaps the country/countries in question will have to take this seriously now too.
(My first diary. Be kind.)