26/07/2007 (Agence Europe) - “Your personal involvement, and the effective role played by Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner, were among the determining factors in this happy outcome,” wrote Committee of the Regions (CoR) President Michel Delebarre in a letter to European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, with copies being sent to Ms Ferrero-Waldner and the leader of the CoR's Bulgarian delegation Krasimir Mirev. Mr Delebarre also congratulated the European Commission for its role in securing the release of the Bulgarian medical staff, and repeated “the CoR's strongest opposition to the death penalty, the banning of which is a component part of human dignity and a founding principle of European rule of law”. (gb)