Declaration by the Presidency on behalf of the European Union on death penalty moratorium in New Jersey

January 26, 2006

The European Union is profoundly encouraged by the decision of the New Jersey Legislature to put in place a moratorium on executions in the State of New Jersey.

The European Union considers that the abolition of the death penalty contributes to the enhancement of human dignity and the progressive development of human rights. It reaffirms its objective of working towards universal abolition of the death penalty.

No legal system is immune to miscarriages of justice. Legal errors happen in any legal system including in the European Union. That is another reason why the death penalty was abolished by all EU Member States. With the death penalty any miscarriage of justice is perpetuated and can never be redressed.

"The Acceding Countries Bulgaria and Romania, the Candidate Countries Turkey, Croatia* and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, and the EFTA countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, as well as Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova align themselves with this declaration."

* Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.