Copenhagen wants EU capitals to finance a Sept. 11 monument in New York

By The Associated Press

COPENHAGEN, Denmark – Officials from Copenhagen want officials from other European Union capitals to help finance "a new Statue of Liberty" in New York to mark the Sept. 11 terror attacks, Danish officials said Wednesday.

Deputy Mayor Soeren Pind said the statue should reflect "the evil and its destruction and the good that always wins and it should be a monument for those who were killed."

Pind was inspired by the Statue of Liberty given to the United States by France to mark the long-standing friendship between the nations.

"It should be like a new Statue of Liberty that expresses our solidarity with New York," Pind told The Associated Press.

Copenhagen's Mayor Jens Kramer Mikkelsen will present the idea to officials from 14 EU capitals later this year, Pind said.

Pind did not give a total cost estimate but said he would ask his city to allocate $23,800 to create a secretariat to coordinate efforts. The project was expected to take three to four years. Money would be raised by national support committees in participating European capitals, Pind said.

The artist and design were to be selected later, Pind said.

The U.S. Embassy's deputy chief of mission, Lawrence E. Butler, welcomed the initiative and called it "a tangible demonstration" of Denmark's support to the United States following the airborne attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

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