Deputies could close doors to observers

Date: 07/07/05

The European Parliament was to vote today (7 July) on whether to delay arrival of observers from Romania and Bulgaria.

The observers were supposed to arrive on 26 September but the centre-right European People's Party (EPP-ED) wants the date put back to 1 January 2006 at the earliest because it says it would be "inappropriate" for the 35 Romanian and 18 Bulgarian observers to arrive any sooner.

The EPP-ED, Parliament's biggest group, says that if the date of EU accession for the two countries is put back a year, from 2007 to 2008, as has been mooted, then the observers should not be allowed to come until 1 January 2007.

A spokesman said: "Even if the date is not changed, we say that observers from Romania and Bulgaria should arrive no sooner than one calendar year before accession, as was the case with the 162 observer MEPs from the ten new member states that joined the EU last year." Their arrival in September would, he said, be "clearly absurd".

The Parliament's next two biggest groups said they would resist any attempt to postpone the date.

Observers would be allowed to attend committee and plenary meetings but would have no voting rights and only be able to speak in committees.

They will have their travel expenses reimbursed and be paid a daily allowance for attending the Parliament but will not receive a salary or any money for their assistants.

An EPP-ED spokesman said Parliament could not accommodate the 53 observers. "It has been proposed, for instance, that they are put in seats occupied by members during debates and then removed during votes. Apart from anything, this would not be very dignified for the observers."

The Socialists described the EPP-ED move as an "insult" to the two countries and suggested it was motivated by the result of last month's Bulgarian elections, won by a Socialist-led coalition.

Socialist group vice-chairman, Jan Marinus Wiersma, said: "The observers will be able to help us to monitor and prepare the final stages of accession. Parliament will be fully involved in any decision on invocation of the safeguard clauses..."

Liberal (ALDE) group leader Graham Watson said his group was "in favour" of an early arrival for their observer MEPs. "To do otherwise will send the wrong signal to those countries waiting to join the EU," he said.

Anticipation of a vote in the European Parliament on 7 July 2005 whether to delay arrival of observers from Romania and Bulgaria. Among the largest Parliamentary Groups only the EPP-ED was in favour of a delay.

European Parliament: Daily Notebook, 7.7.05, 'Bulgarian and Romanian Observers in EP on 26 September' http://europarl.europa.eu/omk/sipade2?PUBREF=-//EP//TEXT+PRESS+DN-20050707-1+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&L=EN&LEVEL=2&NAV=X&LSTDOC=N

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