Brussels, 01/10/2002 (Agence Europe) - The "General Affairs and External Relations" Council adopted a declaration on the death penalty and particularly cruel forms of execution on Monday. In that declaration, which does not contain any reference to a particular State, the European Union again expresses concern at the continued application of capital punishment and calls for an immediate end to the use of stoning to death and other cruel and inhuman forms of punishment. The EU urges all governments to introduce and maintain moratoria on executions and eventually abolish the use of the death penalty in their domestic legal systems. The EU considers as particularly unjustified the use of the death sentence for non-violent crimes. "The European Union's aspiration is to see the death penalty abolished in law and in practice in every country in the world", we read in the declaration, that ends with the confirmation of the EU's determination to combat the death penalty and torture.