Porto, 19/06/2000 (Agence Europe) - Following the European Peoples Party (EPP) summit on Sunday 18 June in Porto, the Party President Wilfried Martens indicated to the press that the summit had approved the conclusions of the Political Bureau concerning the full integration of the OVP of Wolfgang Schüssel into the Party and the creation of a human rights protection and fight against racism and xenophobia committee, and hoping that the way in which the EPP solves the Austrian problem - through dialogue - will serve as an example for the European Council. At the same time, when answering questions, Mr. Martens said: "we do not want to take the initiative now, we do not believe we are a stage at which we must officially discuss this problem." The President of the Portuguese PSD and EPP Vice-President, José Maunel Durao Barroso, also underlined that the Party had overcome this difficulty through dialogue, and presented a united front: the family is once again united, and the EPP is now in a position were it is able to bring its contribution to the pursuit of European Integration, he said).
Furthermore, Mr. Martens announced that the leaders gathered in Porto (with the notable presence of the EP President Nicole Fontaine) also proposed that Article 191 of the Treaty be enriched with an addition on the "recognition" and the financing of European parties, and launched a "warning cry" over the unfolding of the IGC: when I read the Presidency's report for the summit (though technically good, he added), "I find the same arguments than at Amsterdam, and no viable solution," he stated.
As for Chancellor Schüssel, who said he was very please to have taken part in the summit and of having found his "family", he told some journalists that it was up to the fourteen to make proposals to find a solution to the bilateral measures against Austria. We must find this solution through dialogue, he repeated.