To mark the day of national mourning that was observed in France on 08/01/2015 in honour of the victims of the terrorist attack at the headquarters of the French satirical weekly newspaper “Charlie Hebdo” in Paris the day before, the European Comission decided to fly the European flags at half-mast on all Commission buildings in Belgium, its host country.

Expressing the solidarity with “France, to the French people and to journalists,” the High Representative for Foreign and Security issues Federica Mogherini addressed reporters in French after an inaugural meeting of Latvia’s presidency in Riga, saying “the freedom of the press is a fundamental value of Europe.”

“The freedom of the press is a fundamental value of our existance, of Europe. It is in the heart of our freedom to think, of our life together. I think that, as President Juncker has already said, the European Union will remain united not only internally but also externally,” Mogherini said at the press point with Edgars Rinkēvičs, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia.

“The fight against terrorism is not only a political challenge but also a cultural one that we share with our partners throughout the world, starting with Arab countries, African and Asian ones because we are convinced that we should detach the word ‘terrorism’ from the word ‘Islam’,” Mogherini said.

“No religion should be used to perpetrate cruel and inhuman acts. I believe that this cultural challenge will also be in heart of our activity in Europe,” Mogherini added.

“As the minister had said, we will have a debate with foreign ministers at the Council of foreign affairs on January 19. We have already discussed this with our colleagues, interior ministers, we will continue to link our outside action with the one within the EU that the interior and justice ministers will develop in the coming days,” she added.

“There is no dividing line between interior and exterior when it is about our security. There is an exterior aspect and there is also an interior aspect of work to be done and the two aspects should be well coordinated,” Mogherini said.
Read Mogherini’s remarks here