Brussels, 26/07/2005 (Agence Europe) - An EU electoral mission headed by MEP Emma Bonino (ALDE, Italy) is deployed in Afghanistan with a view to covering the elections scheduled for 18 September, a European Commission press release states. External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner notes that the “electoral preparations are well underway” and welcomes the fact that Emma Bonino and her team “arrived in good time to accompany the process”, while stressing that the situation “remains precarious” and that “all moves are to accompanied by heightened security measures”. The European Commission currently deploys a team of thirteen experts in Afghanistan to be gradually strengthened by short and long-term observers to reach a total of one hundred persons at most, the press release explains. Long-term observers will arrive in August in the provinces to monitor the electoral campaign, while short-term observers will be deployed the day before the ballot to monitor vote-counting and the presentation of results. The release states that the deployment of EU observers will be subject to meticulous and constant assessment of security conditions. In the context of the one billion euro allocation over five years foreseen for reconstruction in Afghanistan, the EU provides EUR 4 million for the operating costs of its mission, 8.5 million for the cost of organising elections, and 3 million for the institutional development of the Afghan parliament, the press release states.