THE BULGARIAN MPS, OBSERVERS AT THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, WILL BE OFFICIALLY WELCOMED ON 26 SEPTEMBER 2005 DURING THE EP PLENARY SESSION IN STRASBOURG

The Secretary General of the National Assembly Ognyan Avramov met in Brussels with Mr. Julian Priestly, Secretary General of the European Parliament. Ognyan Avramov and another four officials from the Bulgarian Parliament are taking part in a seminar on the reform of the judicial system and public administration at the invitation of the European Parliament.

Mr. Priestly informed Ognyan Avramov of the date on which 18 Bulgarian MPs and their Romanian colleagues, who will act as observers at the European Parliament, will be officially welcomed. The event is envisaged to take place on 26 September 2005, at 17.00 hrs, during the EP plenary session in Strasbourg.

The European Parliament will open an information centre in Sofia very soon, he added.

Mr. Priestly hailed his counterpart Avramov’s initiative to host a meeting in Sofia between the Secretary General of the European Parliament and the Secretaries General of the Parliaments of the EU member states and applicant countries. The forum will focus on the common European standards in the work of parliamentary administrations.

The two discussed a wide scope of issues related to the more efficient cooperation between the two parliaments administrations after the signing of the Treaty of Accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the European Union.