European Union lawmakers say they will press U.S. and European leaders to appear before an inquiry into alleged secret CIA prisons in Europe.
The vice president of an investigative panel looking into the matter, Sarah Ludford, said Thursday U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and other foreign and defense ministers could be invited to appear before the panel.
But EU officials concede they have no legal authority to subpoena them.
The 46-member temporary committee was created this month after reports by U.S. media and human rights groups of secret CIA prisons in new East European EU member states.
European officials say the committee will try to find out whether the U.S. or other nations abducted suspects, transported them to countries where they could be aggressively interrogated, and housed them at secret detention sites.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
