Brussels, 24/02/2010 (Agence Europe) - The EU is “strongly concerned” by the human rights and fundamental freedoms situation in Kyrgyzstan, which continues to get worse. This message was sent out on Tuesday 23 February in a press release following the EU- Kyrgyzstan Cooperation Council meeting in Brussels, attended by the Kyrgyzstan foreign minister, Kadyrbek Sarbaev. The EU27 are calling on the country's authorities to take “urgent and comprehensive action” to rectify this unacceptable situation. The European secretary of state for European affairs (from Spain,) Angel Losada, said that the EU was prepared to help the country make efforts to this end. Losada chaired the Cooperation Council on behalf of Catherine Ashton (on a visit to Russia). The European Union welcomed the parliamentary approval of the Kyrgyzstan law on accession to the 1989 Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on the abolition of the death penalty. The country therefore has reinforced its commitment not to use the death penalty, explains the EU press release. On Tuesday the two sides also appealed for a deepening in bilateral relations, particularly by way of complete and effective implementation of the partnership and cooperation agreement, the potential of which has still not been entirely exploited. (H.B./transl.fl)