Brussels, 26/03/2002 (Agence Europe) - The representatives of the Democracy Discussion Forum created to hear the opinions of the Convention's "Euro-realist" and "Euro-sceptical" Members, said they were very disappointed about the plenary's rejection of the proposal by Jens-Peter Bonde last week. He had proposed that two (and not just one) observers from candidate countries should be appointed as observers to the Praesidium. Furthermore, Mr Bonde requested that the "Euro-realistic/Euro-sceptical" Members should have up to two observers at the Praesidium, to be able to take part in the deliberations of the Convention.
Last Friday, during a press conference attended by MEPs Jens-Peter Bonde, Peter Skaarup and Esko Seppänen, British representative David Heathcoat-Amery and Jan Zahradil, Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Czech Shadow Cabinet, requested that the Convention review, in detail, all 85,000 pages of acquis communautaire. The acquis is "grotesquely unfair" towards candidate countries, Mr Heathcoat-Amery had decreed during the plenary debate (Ed.: at the time, he had left his post as minister in John Major's government to be able to campaign more freely against the euro).