Brussels, 03/06/2002 (Agence Europe) - At a joint meeting last week in Riga (Latvia), the President of the European Parliament, Pat Cox, and the presidents of the national parliaments of the thirteen candidate countries appealed to the EU and to candidate countries to reach "balanced solutions" in the accession negotiations to enable future Member States to be treated on the same footing as the current Member States. A common declaration asserts that new EU Member States have to be able to benefit from the start from the same competition conditions as the old in the enlarged single market and no new Member State should find itself in a worse financial situation then it was in in the year before accession. Bulgaria and Romania should be provided with extra pre-accession aid "at the earliest opportunity". The presidents hailed the European Parliament's plan to give MPs from candidate countries "observer" status at the EP as soon as their countries sign the Accession Treaty. They also welcomed the active involvement of the candidate countries in the European Convention, expressing their desire for the candidates to "fully participate" in the upcoming IGC. The Cypriot question was also discussed, highlighting that finding a settlement to the conflict cannot be a precondition for Cyprus' accession, but the presidents hoped that "Cyprus as a whole" could join the EU in 2004.
The next meeting of the EP and candidate country parliamentary presidents will be held in Brussels before the end of the year.