UN Moratorium on Death Penalty: Mr Prodi, please go ahead!

6.04.02pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 14th Jun 2007

The European Parliament strongly endorses the call by Transnational Radical Party and Nessuno Tocchi Caino (Hands Off Cain) on Italy's President of the Council of Ministers Romano Prodi to immediately table a resolution based on the Political Declaration presented last December and signed by 93 countries on a Universal Moratorium on the Death Penalty in order to put it to a vote before the end of the current session (61st) of the UN General Assembly.

Following the decisions of the Italian Parliament and the invitations and support of the European Parliament along with a group of favorable countries covering all continents, now 172 MEPs from all the 27 Member States and political groups have promptly signed a new appeal.

Among them, the EP Group leaders Graham Watson (ALDE), Joseph Daul (EPP), Martin Schulz (PSE), Cristiana Moscardini (UEN), Daniel Cohn-Bendit e Monica Frassoni (Greens), Francis Wurtz (GUE), Jens-Peter Bonde (IND). In their personal capacity, some MEPs from the far right ITS Group have also signed it.

After years of postponements due to an unnecessary search for the unanimous consensus of the European Union, "the time to act at UN Headquarters has finally arrived" states the appeal.