Brussels, 19/05/2003 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has welcomed the fact that Slovakia voted massively in favour of accession to the Union (92.46%) during last weekend's referendum. Participation in this referendum, the first to be held in Slovakia since independence, was over the 50% required for it to be valid (52.15%), said the Commission in a press release, in which it spoke of the strong willingness of the Slovakian people to join the European family of democratic countries.
At the European Parliament, the President of the EPP-ED group, Hans-Gert Pöttering, warmly welcomed the sister parties of the European Popular Party (Slovak Democratic and Christian Union, the Hungarian Coalition and Christian-Democratic Movement) which, it says in a press release, "are the only ones which have given new direction to the people of Slovakia". 7 observers from these three parties have a seat at the EP, he pointed out.