(Brussels) “With the death of former Israeli president Shimon Peres, the world has lost a true champion of peace”. Donald Tusk and Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the EU Council and president of the EU Commission, respectively, send their sympathy to the family of the deceased Peres and to the Israeli population. “He was decisive in moulding tight bonds of friendship and cooperation between Israel and the rest of the world, including Europe”. “His long career as executive, minister, prime minister and more recently as president has been spent in building a stronger and safer State of Israel. But he had always believed that his vision for Israel could only be accomplished if the Palestinians had managed to have a State, thus living in peace and safety next to Israel. Even in his darkest hours, he retained his view of a two-State solution”, a State for Israelis, and one State for Palestinians. Now, with the demise of the winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace, “Israel loses a great statesman, and Europe loses a great friend and partner”. Peres “never lost his faith in peace. We must keep his legacy alive by continuing his untiring efforts for peace, cooperation and cohabitation in the Middle East and on a global scale”.