Prague, 05/03/2002 (Agence Europe) - The Group of the European People's Party-European Democrats (EPP-ED) at the European Parliament, which met for the first time in Prague, heard its president, Hans-Gert Pöttering, recall that his group had mainly suggested that the candidate countries should take part in the European elections of 2004. Ursula Stenzel, co-president of the mixed EU/Czech Republic parliamentary committee, welcomed the holding of this meeting in the "Florence of Central Europe". Vice President Bernd Posselt, on the other hand, spoke of the Benes Decrees and the expulsion of Germans from the Sudetenland, considering that the legal situation of Germans (and Hungarians) concerned must be clarified before EU membership. The vice-president of the group, Wim Van Velzen, recalled for his part that the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs called for the opinion of jurists on the Benes Decrees, and Cyril Swoboda pointed out that Czech experts will also be examining this question. Mr Posselt, elected CSU member, also expressed the hope that the Czech parties that are members of the EPP family would return to power after the elections on 15 June this year.
On the Czech side, KDU-CSM President Cyril Swoboda urged for more integration in Europe and against a return to a "purely intergovernmental system", while Hanna Marvanova, president of the US-DEU party, stressed the magnitude of reforms already achieved in the Czech Republic, while noting that there is still much to be done (the Justice Minister still has an influence over the appointment of judges, she said in particular). She felt that, when it comes to reform of public services, it is necessary to make a complete break with the past. In this respect, Deputy Karl Kühnl reproached the left-wing parties with not believing in the utility of reform, and of defending them only as a prior condition to EU accession. The government, he said, uses every possible opportunity to present Europe as being the main party to blame for every unpopular reform, which can but encourage anti-European sentiment.