Brussels, 19/03/2004 (Agence Europe) - The Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly will be holding its first session on 22 and 23 March in Athens. This opening session will witness transformation of the parliamentary forum into a Joint Assembly composed of MEPs and representatives of national parliaments of EU Member States and Mediterranean rim countries. The creation of this joint institution was approved by the ministerial conference of Naples in December 2003. In Athens, the parliamentarians present (240 in all including 120 Europeans of which 45 MEPs) will have as the main point on the agenda the adoption of their assembly's internal rules of procedure (the text was approved on 18 March by the follow-up Committee of the EuroMed process) and the designation of a four-member bureau including a president who, for this first appointment, will be an elected member from partner countries. The choice of a president should result from a compromise to be found between three candidates - the current co-president of the Forum, Moroccan national Abdelwahad Radi, the president of the Moroccan Parliament, and his Tunisian and Egyptian colleagues, Fouad Mebazâa and Fathi Sourour.