Theme of the day of 30 April 2003

From 1 May 2003, 162 Members of Parliament from the 10 accession states will join the European Parliament as official Observers nominated by their respective Parliaments. Of these, 69 will join the EPP-ED Group. This is by far the largest number of Observers to join any political group and means that the EPP-ED Group will now have a total of 301 Members in the European Parliament. The Group will maintain its position as the leading Group in Parliament with more members than the next two political Groups (Socialists and Liberals) combined.

Welcoming this development the Chairman of the EPP-ED Group, Hans-Gert Poettering, said, "I am delighted that the EPP-ED Group has attracted so many Members, 42% of the total, from the 10 new Member States. We have worked hard to prepare our sister parties for enlargement with a special 'Partnership programme' and close contact throughout the accession negotiations. We will now work to complete the process of acquaintance and co-operation and ensure that our 69 new colleagues are quickly integrated into our Group and the European Parliament. In this way they can effectively represent the people of the 10 accession states."

The Observers will participate in all the work of Parliament including the political groups and committees but will not have the right to vote. The accession countries will participate, as full members of the European Union, in the European elections of June 2004. Until then the 162 Observers will represent the accession countries.

In 8 out of the 10 accession countries the EPP-ED Group will be the leading political formation (Cyprus, Estonia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Malta, Slovenia, and Slovakia).

"The enlargement Treaties have been signed and now representatives of the 10 countries will take their place in the European Parliament. Our task now is to work together to make the Europe of 25 a success for all concerned", declared Hans-Gert Poettering.

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EPP-ED Observers

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