Brussels, 13/03/2002 (Agence Europe) - At the opening of a press conference on the Barcelona Summit (see other news on subject), the President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, expressed his regret at the death of the Italian press photographer, Raffaele Ciriello in Ramallah. Before requesting a minute's silence, Mr Prodi declared, "Once again a journalist has paid with his life merely for trying to provide the world with pictures of reality. A tragic reality, the reality of the Middle East."
The President of the Commission also stated, "I would like firmly to condemn, in full accord with the Secretary-General of the UN: the reoccupation of the territories; the disproportionate use of force in areas populated by civilians; the destruction of buildings and public infrastructures which daily humiliates Palestinians (in response to a journalist, he later recalled that out of all the infrastructures funded by European tax payers, only a single hospital remained undestroyed). At the same time I consider it repugnant to strike blindly a unarmed Israeli civilians…I spoke yesterday with Mr Aznar. In Barcelona, Europe will show its unity and put all its political and economic strength at the service of peace: there is no time left to lose."