16/06/2003 (Agence Europe) - External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten congratulated the Prosecutor in the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo, "on the occasion of your solemn undertaking in open court to exercise your functions impartially and conscientiously". Mr Patten stresses in his message that the EU has worked with great resolve in favour of establishing a Court that can count on "strong political, diplomatic and financial backing for the new court". The EU will continue to support the ICC, in conformity to the commitment by Member States to ratify the Rome Statute so that it may take concrete action to combat impunity and advance international justice, the Commissioner states. (See EUROPE of 12 June, p.6, on the subject of the warning launched by the United States to the EU on the subject of the Court, on the eve of the transatlantic summit of 25 June).