Nieuwe europarlementariërs verwelkomd in Europees Parlement (en)

EUOBSERVER / STRASBOURG - The European Parliament welcomed the EU's 10 new member states with an official ceremony on Monday, where the flags of the 10 new EU countries were raised alongside those of the former 15 to the sound of the European anthem.

In this last plenary session before the European Parliament elections in June and the first sitting of the enlarged European Parliament, speeches will be held in the 20 EU official languages.

The number of MEPs has now shot up to just short of 800 as the 162 observers from the new EU countries have now achieved MEP status and will be able to vote alongside the 626 MEPs from the "old" member states.

But only for this session, as EU citizens will go to the polls to elect 732 MEPs in June.

Presidents of the Parliaments from the new Member States and EU ambassadors attended the official ceremony in Strasbourg on Monday, where former Polish President Lech Walesa, the founder of Solidarity Union, was guest of honour.

"Today is an ode to joy", European Parliament President Pat Cox said.

"Joy at celebrating this moment together. Joy at welcoming the democratic representatives of 10 new European Union member states to the European Parliament in Strasbourg. Joy at achieving through the fifth enlargement of the European Union another milestone in our common modern history of integration together".

"This is a journey marked by the free will of free peoples. A moment of rebirth. This is a moment of real hope", he added.

Mr Walesa said he was invited "as a sign of the great struggle for a united Europe".

"Today this is completed. Today we can see all the wishes of the former generations fulfilled", he said.

Mr Walesa said that Europe and the world have once again regained all the opportunities and possibilities that were once lost in war and in tragic post war divisions.

Enlargement Commissioner Günter Verheugen, who addressed MEPs during the opening debate in the plenary said that enlargement will bring with it risks, but added that these will be outweighed by the advantages.

"I sincerely believe that [enlargement] represents a shining examples of the attractiveness, dynamism and youth of the European idea", he said.

"Enlargement does not mean the weakening of Europe", he added. "It makes it politically and economically stronger".