MORATORIUM. EP URGES COUNCIL TO PRESENT A RESOLUTION TO THE UN

September 27, 2007: MEPs called on the Council to present a resolution on the moratorium on the death penalty to the 62nd UN General Assembly, in order to adopt it before the end of the year. In a resolution passed by 504 votes in favour, 45 against with 14 abstentions, the House also reiterates its full support for the establishment of a European Day against the death penalty on 10 October, calling on the future Polish government to fully support this initiative.
The Council has been unable to reach a decision on the European Day against the death penalty, because the Polish government has been blocking it.
The House urged the Presidency to "present a resolution on the moratorium at the opening of the 62nd United Nations General Assembly, [...] in order to adopt it before the end of this year."
During the debate yesterday afternoon, the Presidency stated that it would table a resolution "by early- to mid-October." The UN's Third Committee (social, humanitarian and cultural affairs) could vote on the draft resolution in October of this year, allowing for a vote in the General Assembly in December.
After the resolution adopted today in Strasbourg, European Parliamentarians Marco Pannella and Marco Cappato from the Non Violent Radical Party declared: "After the European Governments' decision on June 18, 2007, the almost unanimous vote by the European Parliament erased all the bureaucratic excuses that the Portuguese EU Presidency has used for not presenting the resolution for the Moratorium on capital punishment to the UN General Assembly." (Sources: europarl.europa.eu, 27/09/2007)