16 January 2007 :

the President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, and the Italian Prime Minister, Romano Prodi, condemned the latest executions of two former top officials in Hussein's regime in Baghdad.
"We consider that a man does not have the right to take away the life of another," said Barroso in Rome. "It's a fundamental question, which I believe is one of our European values. I take this opportunity to congratulate Italy for all the initiatives it's taking on this at the UN. We can work together to abolish the death penalty," he added.
The Italian Prime Minister, whose country now has a seat on the UN Security Council, repeated his opposition to the death penalty. "We consider that a man does not have the right to take the life of another man," Barroso said. "It's a fundamental question. I believe in our European values and I take this occasion to thank Italy for all the initiatives that it announced so that, in the framework of the United Nations, we can work together to put an end to the death penalty."