During the debate that took place in the morning at the EU Parliament about the "Right to freedom of expression and respect of religious faith", Hans Winkler, Austrian Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, took the floor to state: "Every fundamental right, including the right of expression, is one of the bulwarks of our democracies. It cannot be questioned, but it must be exercised responsibly". According to José Manuel Barroso, the Commission’s leader, "the cartoons of the prophet Muhammad hurt the sensitivity of millions of Muslims. We have to confirm deep respect for the Islamic civilisation. We censure instead every form of violent reaction". Barroso then explained: "If freedom of the press is not negotiable, freedom of religious isn’t either since it is a fundamental right of individuals and communities. Dialogue, tolerance, mutual respect must prevail over the prejudices and violence of the few". The head of the People’s Party, Hans-Gert Poettering, put forward some factual proposals, such as that to "entrust a commission to review textbooks, to see how they express themselves about freedom of expression and respect of religions". According to Poettering, then, there is the need to "support the Barcelona process, by turning the Euromediterranean Conference into a forum for dialogue between cultures". The Danish Liberal Democrat Karin Riis-Jørgensen made the wish, that "may freedom of expression be protected everywhere, not just in Europe but also in Teheran or Kabul".
