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EU Ministers Hold Special Meeting on US Attacks
European Union (EU) foreign ministers met Wednesday to discuss how to give moral support and practical help to the United States after Tuesday's devastating terror attacks on key US targets.
Diplomats said the meeting, originally set for the morning, had been put off to the afternoon to give EU ambassadors more time to prepare the agenda for the 15 foreign ministers.
According to Cristina Gallach, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, it will be a very strong message of support by the EU as a whole to the president and the people of the United States.
The 15-nation bloc are also ready to offer practical help, if necessary, for example, with rescue operations and with help to track down the perpetrators of these terrible acts, she said.
Three passenger jets were hijacked in the United States early Tuesday and slammed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, killing thousands of people. It is the worst attack on U.S. targets since the Pearl Harbor raid in 1941. A fourth hijacked aircraft crashed into a wood in rural Pennsylvania.
Diplomats said the discussions at the meeting of the EU Council of Ministers in Brussels would include ways of strengthening the international fight against terrorism and political extremism.
The foreign ministers will also discuss the possibility of holding an urgent meeting of the EU's interior and justice ministers to consider ways of improving cooperation between police and security services in the 15 countries.
Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel, whose country holds the current EU presidency, chaired the meeting.
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