The EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana is among a number of top officials accused of concealing information from a European Parliament inquiry into secret CIA detention centres for terrorism suspects.
A draft European Parliament committee's report said today that a number of European countries knew about the so-called rendition programme and obstructed the investigation.
The report criticised many of top EU officials including Mr Solana and counter-terrorism coordinator Gijs de Vries.
European Union Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana
It also accused the former head of Italy's SISMI intelligence service of "concealing the truth" when he told the committee that Italian agents played no part in the CIA kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric in 2003.
The report said SISMI officials had played an active role in the abduction of Abu Omar, and the CIA kept Italian authorities informed on his later detention in Egypt.
Mr Omar had been "held incommunicado and tortured ever since", the report said.
The document reflected charges from the Council of Europe human rights body that European states were complicit in US abuses during the war on terrorism.
It said records, from a confidential source, of a meeting last December involving the EU, Nato and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice confirmed that "member states had knowledge of the programme of extraordinary renditions and secret prisons".
The US acknowledged after widespread pressure that it did secretly transfer suspects between countries, and President George W Bush confirmed in September that the CIA had held high-level terrorism suspects at secret overseas locations.
The EU and Council of Europe inquiries were launched partly in response to press reports that the US ran such prisons in Poland and Romania. A charge both countries strongly deny.
Today's report complained of lack of cooperation from the Polish government and regretted Romania's "lack of willingness to investigate in depth".
Among other criticisms in the draft report:
- It was "totally unacceptable" that the EU Council first hid, then provided only partial information on regular discussions with senior US administration officials.
- Mr Solana's evidence to the committee contained "omissions and denials" which prompted deep concern.
- De Vries's evidence lacked credibility and the committee questioned the point of his counter-terrorism coordinator role.
- The committee was frustrated that neither Europol criminal intelligence boss Max-Peter Ratzel nor Nato chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer had agreed to be interviewed.
- It "deplored" poor cooperation from Britain, as represented before the committee by Europe Minister Geoff Hoon.
The draft also report expressed deep concern that temporary secret detention facilities in European countries might have been located in US military bases, and said states hosting such bases needed to exercise greater control.