With 54 votes in favour out of a total of 58, the foreign affairs Commission of the European Parliament approved a non-legislative resolution last week, expressing their support for EU membership of the first group of candidate countries. Although in the text of the resolution it is affirmed that the entry of the Ten represents “an important stage in the construction of a stronger and more effective European Union” and that enlargement is indispensable “to consolidate democracy and peace”, some MEPs within the foreign affairs Commission expressed misgivings about the effective degree of preparation of some of the candidate countries (especially Poland, which received the lowest number of favourable votes), and about the ability of the European institutions to adjust in time to the enlargement. Meanwhile, the controversy between the European Parliament and the Council on the funding of the Union after 2006 still remains unresolved: the EP believes, in fact, that the heads of state and of government, in the course of the Council held in Copenhagen last December, decided unilaterally to commit Community funds without consulting the Parliament, a budgetary authority equal to the Council. The president of the EP Pat Cox, in the absence of a solution of the question, also ventilated the idea of deferring the plenary vote on enlargement, scheduled for 9 April and necessary for confirming the Resolution of the foreign affairs Commission.
