(BRUSSELS) - The European Union condemned Friday the killing of a former politician in Spain's Basque region just before weekend general elections, and expressed solidarity with the Spanish people.

"I want to condemn in the firmest possible terms the terrible assassination of Isaias Carrasco and express my sincere condolences to his family," EU commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said.

"I also want to express the European Commission's unfailing solidarity with the citizens and Spain's democratic institutions in the fight against terrorism," he said in a statement.

Witnesses quoted by Spanish media said the former councillor from the ruling Socialist Party was shot several times at short range in front of his wife and daughter outside his home.

There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack but police said it bore the hallmarks of ETA, which has killed more than 800 people in its nearly 40-year campaign for an independent Basque homeland.

Spain's two main parties immediately announced an end to campaigning for Sunday's election, which had been due to stop at midnight.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, a Spanish national, also expressed his "strongest possible condemnation and consternation" over the shooting.

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