EUROPEAN UNION. EU PRESIDENT AUSTRIA WELCOMES US DEATH PENALTY DECISION

EU Council President Austria welcomed a decision by the US state of New Jersey to suspend the death penalty.
In a statement on behalf of the Union, the Vienna Foreign Ministry said the EU felt "strenghened and encouraged" by the New Jersey assembly decision that no-one should executed at least until January 2007.
"The European Union is convinced that the abolition of the death penalty contributes to strengthening human dignity, and gradual progression of human rights", said the Austrian statement. The EU's aim was to work for an end to the death penalty worldwide.
No legal system was immune to mistakes. "That's a further reason why the death penalty has been abolished in all EU states. The death penalty leads to mistakes being final, and no longer subject to revision."
The Vienna declaration was joined as well as the 25 EU members by candidates Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and Croatia, as well as Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Serbia-Montenegro, Iceland, Norway, Ukraine and Moldova. With the New Jersey decision, the parliament of a US state for the first time suspended the death penalty. There had already been suspensions in Illinois and Maryland, but on the orders of the governors.