Two innovations are about to be made to the European Parliament. First, the EP will welcome 18 Bulgarian and 35 Romanian “observers”, starting from the next plenary session, scheduled to be held in Strasbourg from 26 to 29 September. It will be the first official presence of representatives of the candidate countries that are due to become effective members of the EU on 1st January 2007. The role of observers is to take part in the work of the Assembly, observe the work of the committees, and get to know at close hand the parliamentary procedures. They will also have the right to speak during meetings, to enable them to bring the needs and problems of their respective states and fellow-citizens to the attention of EU institutions. In the case of Bulgaria, 12 men and 6 women exponents of 7 national parties have been designated, while 25 men and 10 women, representing 8 different parties, will be arriving from Bucharest. The second innovation consists of a complete revamp of the website of the European Parliament. The new format was presented in Brussels on Tuesday 13 September. The intention, according to those responsible for institutional communication, “is to render this medium more rapid and more easy for citizens to consult”. The website, whose information will be translated into the 20 official languages of the Eu, has as its slogan “457 million citizens, one single address: www.europarl.eu.int”. ———————————————————————————————————– Sir Europa (English) N.ro assoluto : 1413 N.ro relativo : 62 Data pubblicazione : 14/09/2005
