REPORT on the 2006 Progress Report on the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

8.6.2007 - (2006/2289(INI))

Committee on Foreign Affairs
Rapporteur: Erik Meijer

MOTION FOR A EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION

on the 2006 Progress Report on the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

(2006/2289(INI))

The European Parliament,

–   having regard to the Presidency Conclusions of the Thessaloniki European Council of 19-20 June 2003, at which the promise was made to all Western Balkan states that they would in the long term join the European Union,

–   having regard to the European Council decision of 16 December 2005 to grant the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia the status of candidate country for EU membership and the Presidency Conclusions of the European Councils of 15-16 June 2006 and of 14-15 December 2006,

–   having regard to the conclusions of the Second Meeting of the EU-Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Stabilisation and Association Council of 18 July 2005 and the conclusions of the Third Meeting of the EU-Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Stabilisation and Association Council of 11 December 2006,

–   having regard to Council Decision 2006/57/EC of 30 January 2006 on the principles, priorities and conditions contained in the European Partnership with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia[1],

–   having regard to the Commission’s 2006 Progress Report on the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (SEC(2006)1387),

–   having regard to its resolution of 13 December 2006 on the Commission's Communication on the Enlargement Strategy and Main Challenges 2006–2007[2],

–   having regard to the recommendations of the EU-Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Joint Parliamentary Committee of 29-30 January 2007,

–   having regard to Rule 45 of its Rules of Procedure,

–   having regard to the report of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (A6‑0214/2007),

A. whereas further enlargement of the European Union is not an end in itself, whereas strict compliance with the Copenhagen criteria is required of Member States and whereas every candidate country will be judged on its own merits,

B.  whereas the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has been successfully involved in negotiations relating inter alia to relations with the European Union, such as the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), the Central European Free Trade Association (CEFTA), the efforts of the European Union regarding peaceful resolution of internal differences of opinion in 2001 and the preparations for adopting the EU acquis in the period leading up to 2011,

C. whereas, since the recognition of the status of candidate country by the EU on 16 December 2005, accession negotiations have not yet started with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,

D. whereas, whilst the principles underlying the Ohrid Framework Agreement have now been embedded in the constitutional and legal framework of the country, a sustained effort is needed to fully implement its provisions, in particular as regards the continuation of the decentralisation process and the equitable representation of ethnic and minority communities at national and local level,

E.  whereas the Thessaloniki European Council of 19-20 June 2003 reiterated its determination to fully and effectively support the European perspective of the Western Balkans countries, which will become an integral part of the EU, once they meet the established criteria,

F.  whereas ultimate success in fostering economic reforms will not be guaranteed unless political consensus and inter-ethnic trust can first be achieved,

G. whereas the Brussels European Council of 14-15 December 2006 stated that the EU keeps its commitments towards countries that are in the enlargement process and reiterated that each country's progress towards the European Union depends on its individual efforts to comply with the Copenhagen criteria and the conditionality of the Stabilisation and Association Process,

H. whereas the EU/Western Balkans Salzburg Declaration of 11 March 2006, unanimously adopted by all Foreign Ministers of the European Union and the Foreign Ministers of the Western Balkan countries, reaffirms the importance of good neighbourly relations and the need to find mutually acceptable solutions regarding outstanding issues with neighbouring countries,

1.   Welcomes the progress made by the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, since its application to become a Member of the European Union, in meeting the Copenhagen political criteria and in implementing the recommendations of the 2005 European Partnership, the provisions of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement and the requirements of the Stabilisation and Association Process; points out that the reform momentum must be maintained and that the adopted legislation must now be properly and promptly implemented, especially in the fields of the police, the judiciary, public administration and the fight against corruption, in order to establish a true market economy, to stimulate economic growth and employment and to improve the business climate;

2.   Emphasises that the commencement of accession negotiations will depend on the progress being made in this respect; encourages all stakeholders to keep up the momentum and stresses the need for both the government and opposition political forces to continue the implementation of reforms necessary for the country's integration into the EU;

3.   Commends the Macedonian Government for its cooperation in the field of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP), notably its participation in the EU mission ALTHEA and its willingness to contribute to the development of the ESDP capabilities and future EU-led civilian and military crisis management missions;

4.  Notes with satisfaction that following the internal conflict of 2001, in close cooperation with the EU solutions have been found through the Ohrid Framework agreement to enable all citizens, regardless of their ethnic background, to live together in equality and peace, by strengthening the use of minority languages in public administration and education, through municipal reorganisation and by means of the application of the double majority principle (the Badinter principle) that protects the position of ethnic minorities in parliamentary decision-making; notes that in 2007 agreement has been reached on the national holidays of the different ethnic and religious groups;

5.  Emphasises that the Ohrid Framework Agreement has transformed the country by taking full account of its multi-ethnic and multicultural character, thus representing a core part of the political criteria for EU membership; points out that respecting the letter and spirit of the Agreement will remain crucial for the country's European journey towards accession to the EU; stresses once more that the Badinter principle must be fully respected and that all parties need to respect and work within the democratic institutions which the country has made such efforts to set up;

6.  Points out that the Badinter mechanism, as enshrined in the Constitution, is intended as a means to dialogue and consensus in a multi-ethnic state; regrets that early in 2007, as a result of dissatisfaction with the application of the Badinter principle, the largest Albanian opposition party ceased all parliamentary activity; welcomes the fact that the consultations between government and the opposition resulted in an agreement covering the list of laws to be adopted by applying the Badinter principle, the use of the Albanian language in public institutions, the social security situation of former Albanian guerrilla fighters and the composition of the Committee on Inter-Ethnic Relations, thus enabling all elected members to resume their parliamentary duties and to show political responsibility; calls on this basis, following the implementation of the agreement, for the status of EU candidate country that was granted in 2005 to be accompanied as soon as possible by the actual start of accession negotiations; finally, invites all parties to maintain and consolidate this spirit of dialogue in settling their divergences and to pursue jointly the reform agenda which is essential for the country's European prospects;

7.  Regrets the practice of boycotting the Parliament and points out that such practices are incompatible with functioning parliamentary institutions, which all candidate countries or those aspiring to join the EU are expected to have;

8.  Recalls that consistent application of the Badinter principle ensures continued inter-ethnic cooperation and a relationship of trust between all parties; regrets in this respect the recent example of the vote on the amendments to the Broadcasting Law, whereby, although the law itself was adopted in accordance with the Badinter principle, the amendments were only adopted by a simple majority; calls urgently for maintenance and consistent application of the independence of public broadcasting established in the Law of November 2005, which – unlike the previous situation of political interference – complies with European media standards;

9.  Recommends that the country should learn from European best practices in public administration and education that take account of ethnic and linguistic differences; calls for further agreement on the way in which the two largest ethnic communities and the different minorities can live with one another on an equal and harmonious basis; calls in this respect for the effective implementation of the constitutional provisions designed to guarantee equitable representation of non-majority communities in the public administration;

10. Draws attention to the fact that specific and urgent measures need to be taken to improve the situation of the Roma by using the National Strategy on Roma, involving well-developed Roma civil society as the main partner; considers that matching government funds with IPA funds should be a way towards improving the social inclusion of the Roma in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia;

11. Points out that there are a number of countries in Europe whose name coincides with that of part of the territory of a neighbouring state, and that each state chooses its name in freedom; welcomes the fact that the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has changed its national flag and has made constitutional amendments to confirm the absence of territorial claims against neighbouring countries; regrets the recent name change of the national airport to ‘Alexander the Great’;

12. Regrets that since the admission of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to the UN in 1993, when in order to obtain international recognition the provisional name ‘the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia’ was employed, and since the Interim Accord of 1995 no agreement has been reached with the neighbouring country of Greece; urges the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Greece to bring talks under the aegis of the UN on this issue to a successful conclusion as soon as possible; calls on the Council to facilitate such negotiations;

13. Points out, in this respect, that important countries such as the USA, the Russian Federation and China, as well as certain EU Member States, have already recognised the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia by its constitutional name, and takes the view that the name issue must in no way be used as an obstacle to the opening of negotiations and EU accession; is in fact of the opinion that the name issue neither is nor can be part of the conditions related to the country's EU accession agenda and that, as in the case of all other candidate countries, its integration into the EU will depend exclusively on fulfilment of the Copenhagen criteria;

14. Notes that the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia accepted the last proposal of the United Nations' Special Envoy, Matthew Nimitz, of 7 October 2005 as a basis for resolution of the issue;

15. Notes that the Interim Accord of 13 September 1995 led to a significant improvement in the bilateral relations between the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Greece and that it contains provisions on the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia's membership of international, multilateral and regional organisations and institutions;

16. Notes, furthermore, that, since the conclusion of the Interim Accord of 1995, the scope of economic relations between the two countries has significantly increased, inasmuch as Greece constitutes the largest foreign investor in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, while their trade relations have also been considerably boosted;

17. Welcomes the country's constructive position on the future status of Kosovo; regrets that in anticipation of the future status of Kosovo it has not been possible for any further frontier demarcation to take place; trusts that agreement will be reached on this technical issue with all speed and welcomes the fact that the farmers concerned are able to go on using parts of their land that happen to lie on the other side of the frontier;

18. Draws attention to the desirability of adopting measures to facilitate easy frontier traffic with Kosovo, thus enhancing cooperation in the areas of education, culture and employment, as well as maintaining family ties;

19. Urges the authorities of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to promote regional cooperation and the development of good neighbourly relations;

20. Welcomes in this respect the role of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in the field of regional cooperation, its commitment to the development of bilateral relations and its active role in regional cooperation processes such as the establishment of the Regional Co-operation Council, CEFTA 2006, the Energy Community Treaty and the European Common Aviation Area;

21. Points to the need to protect water quality in the River Vardar, which drains most of the country and continues on Greek territory as the River Axiós, from the pollution caused by industry and urban residential areas;

22. Calls urgently for improvement and maintenance of the water quality and water level in the frontier lakes of Ohridsko Ezero, Prespansko Ezero and Dojransko Ezero, and for effective agreements on this aspect with the neighbouring countries of Albania and Greece;

23. Draws attention to the need to improve the overall attitude towards the environment, inter alia by eliminating illegal rubbish dumps along roads, river banks and on the edge of woodlands by introducing a waste collection system that is separate as far as possible;

24. Calls on the authorities of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to continue approximating EU environmental legislation and standards and to implement and enforce adopted legislation;

25. Emphasises that special attention must be paid to the trafficking of human beings and that strengthening regional cooperation, inter alia through the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative, is becoming a necessity in the fight against international organised crime networks;

26. Expresses serious concern over the fact that unemployment remains extremely high and calls on the Government, in view of the enormous challenges in this field, to devise efficient policies to combat poverty and social inequalities; underlines the need for different trade union federations to be able to coexist on an equal basis, and points out that the present requirement on trade unions to organise 33% of the relevant workforce before they can become contractual partners means that their current membership figures are constantly being called into question by interested parties;

27. Takes it for granted that the authorisation of foreign banks should be founded on equal criteria for all, such as compliance with legal requirements in the area of foreign currency dealings, taxation and consumer protection, and rejects the favouring of certain companies or of the countries in which they have their registered office;

28. Recalls that a major incentive and guarantee for the stability and prosperity of the entire region of South-East Europe is the building-up of a modern cross-border infrastructure, and therefore draws attention to the importance of maintaining and improving the railway network, domestic rail traffic and the transit function between Greece and many other EU Member States; welcomes the restoration of the rail link with Kosovo, regrets the lack of progress on the planned direct rail link with Bulgaria and looks forward to further progress relating to European transport corridors VIII and X;

29. Considers it undesirable that civil servants should lose their jobs or be encouraged to leave with changes of government, and in particular expects civil servants who are specially trained to meet the needs of the EU acquis to continue their work;

30. Points out again that the authorities are expected to investigate the circumstances in which a German citizen, Khaled El-Masri, was abducted to Afghanistan in 2003 and to make public the results of the investigation; urges the national parliament to set up a committee of inquiry as soon as possible to deal with this case and to cooperate fully with the ongoing inquiry of the German Parliament in order to ascertain the truth;

31. Welcomes the initialling of the visa facilitation and readmission agreements with the EU as a transitional step towards a mutual visa-free travel regime, and to this end calls on the Commission to set out a roadmap to increase mobility, including greater participation in life-long learning and cultural exchange projects, and on the Macedonian Government to continue its commitment to fulfil the required European standards in the fields of justice, freedom and security; welcomes the introduction of the new passports with biometric security features by the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; calls urgently for the full recognition of the Macedonian passport by all EU Member States and for the abolition of national supplementary visa payments, particularly the provisions that make it more difficult to visit Greece than other EU Member States;

32. Encourages the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to profit from the experience of Slovenia and Croatia in the process of joining the EU, both of those countries having inherited the same federal laws and sharing practical experience of the former Yugoslavia;

33. Calls on the new Member States to play an active role in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia's move towards the European Union, allowing it to benefit from their experience of reforms;

34. Regrets the signing by the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia of the Bilateral Immunity Agreement with the USA, which excludes American citizens and military personnel from the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court; points out that the International Criminal Court is a cornerstone of international law and that the Rome Statute has been firmly supported by the EU; calls in this regard on the Macedonian Government to find ways to terminate that bilateral agreement, which undermines the full effectiveness of the International Criminal Court;

35. Reiterates the goal of clear European membership for the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia as well as for all Western Balkan countries, in line with the Thessaloniki Agenda; believes that the prospect of EU accession has to be respected in order to consolidate stability and peace in the region;

36. Considers that the education and training system, investment in human capital and the population's access to the internet must be improved in order to respond to the needs of society;

37. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, and the government and parliament of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

• [1]  OJ L 35, 7.2.2006, p. 57.
• [2]  Texts Adopted, P6_TA(2006)0568.

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

1. General features of the country

Immediately beyond the European Union’s external frontier, to the north of its Member State of Greece and to the west of its Member State of Bulgaria, lies the catchment area of the River Vardar. This area was for centuries, until 1912, part of the Ottoman Empire, and its principal city of Skopje (in Turkish ‘Üsküb’, and in Albanian ‘Shkup’) was then the capital of the ‘wilayet’ (province) of Kosova, which also included the adjoining area to the north that is at present awaiting future administrative status. As a consequence of the outcome of the Balkan war, the Vardar’s catchment area belonged to Serbia in the period from 1912 to 1941, when it received the status of the province of Vardarska. After a period of Fascist occupation, in which it was divided for administrative purposes between Albania and Bulgaria along ethnic frontiers, it enjoyed a large measure of autonomy in the period 1945-1991 as a part-republic with the name of Macedonia. This name was taken from the designation favoured since the 19th century by the area’s largest population group, but also coincides with part of Greek history and the use of the name for three bordering provinces in northern Greece. There has been a difference of opinion with its southern neighbour Greece since independence on the constitutional name of ‘Republic of Macedonia’.

As a part of Yugoslavia it had close contacts with the Member States of the then European Communities until obtaining independence in 1991. Cross-border movement within Europe was relatively easy in the absence of the visa requirement that exists today. Together with Serbia and Croatia it fulfilled an important role as a transit area between the EU Member State of Greece and what later became the EU Member States of Austria, Hungary and Slovenia, and more distant countries. Partly as a result of these long-standing close contacts with the present EU area, domestic public opinion is, while divided over language use and political preferences, virtually unanimous in favouring early accession to the EU.

However, in the EU this country is relatively unknown, while it is even less well-known that after applying on 22 March 2004 it acquired the status of EU candidate country on 17 December 2005. What is rather better known in the outside world is the domestic language dispute and the difference of opinion with Greece over the country’s name. In the process of joining the EU these two subjects are likely to receive at least as much attention as the usual issues in the area of administration, the rule of law, crime, the economy and the environment, which were given the most attention during the major round of enlargement of 2004 and 2007.

2. Cultural variety

After Greek and Illyrian occupation in the distant past the population has for many centuries consisted mainly of Slav Macedonians, with a language closely related to Bulgarian and Serbian and also written in Cyrillic script. In the west and north-west, chiefly on the Vardar’s upper reaches around the cities of Gostivar and Tetovo, the language of the majority of the population is Albanian, with its Latin script. There have also long-standing distributions of minorities, with Roma, Turks and Vlachs on the one hand and other Slav groups related to Macedonians, such as Serbs and Bosnians, on the other. As a result linguistic and cultural variety has long been a feature of this area. That variety also finds expression in party-political relations.

The long absence of self-determination greatly strengthened the nationalism of the Macedonian population group over a long period of time. Initially that nationalism turned against Turkish rule, then against the association with Bulgaria laid down in the peace treaty of San Stefano in 1878 and after that against the long period of incorporation with Serbia. By using symbols borrowed from Greek-Macedonian history it also came into conflict with Greece. Moreover this nationalism was seen by non-Macedonian population groups, especially the large Albanian-speaking group, as a threat to their language and culture. This applied particularly to the view that a monolingual state should be created, in which others would have to adapt to the use of the Slavic Macedonian language as the only language of government and education.

3. Language facilities for Albanians and others

Until 1912 all users of the Albanian language lived in areas that are now spread over Albania and four different regions of the former Yugoslavia (the west and north-west of Macedonia, the south-west of Serbia, most of Kosovo, which since 1999 has ceased to be administered by Serbia, and the south of Montenegro) were all governed from Istanbul s part of the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire. In the period 1918-1991 these areas remained, with the exception of Albania, united within Yugoslavia. As a result there have long been close contacts between the two largest concentrations of Albanian-speakers, Kosovo and the region on the upper reaches of the Vardar. The absence in the latter area of official Albanian-language higher education encouraged students to seek education in Kosovo in the period 1999-2001, further strengthening such contacts. In 2001 it became clear, in a violent manner, that good relations between users of the Macedonian language and those of the Albanian language had still not been achieved in the ten years since independence.

Partly as a result of mediation and support by the European Union, a solution was found in the shape of the Ohrid Framework Agreement. In addition to the cessation of hostilities and voluntary disarmament the following points were settled:

1. Local authority reorganisation, with more powers for local government.

2. Non-discrimination and proportional representation of minorities in public administration and politics.

3. Parliamentary procedures are changed so that votes on sensitive issues (such as minority rights, local self-administration and some appointments) require a ‘double majority’. (This Badinter majority essentially means that there must be a majority not just in parliament, but also among the representatives of minorities.)

4. Equal status of languages in government and education. Any language spoken by at least 20 per cent of the population is an official language and the state will finance university education in those languages.

5. Diversity in identity, with local authorities being free to place symbols of the majority segment of the population on public buildings.

The Framework Agreement resulted in a total of 15 amendments to the Constitution and to a new Constitutional Preamble. Up to 2006 there was a continual process of legislative adjustment to the Ohrid Framework Agreement and increasing harmony. Since the elections and the forming of the government this year, in which the largest party of the Albanian-speaking population group left the government, major arguments have arisen on the application of the Batiner majority. Following a boycott of parliamentary activities by the BDI (DUI) and PDP parties, talks are now taking place to reach a settlement.

4. The country’s name and the attitude of Greece

The Sobranie, the parliament of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, adopted the new Constitution on 17 November 1991, in which the country was defined as a sovereign state using the name ‘Republic of Macedonia’. Although under the Badinter criteria all the former Yugoslav republics would be able to obtain international recognition as independent states, the new country was not admitted to the United Nations until 8 April 1993.

The reasons why its membership was opposed lie mainly in the meaning of the name ‘Macedonia’, which historically is known as the country of Alexander the Great (356-323 BC) who managed for a short time to extend his empire as far as Pakistan. On the grounds of the language and culture of the time the southern neighbour, Greece, regards ancient Macedonia as part of its own history and the name Macedonia as an internal name. The use of the same name by a neighbouring state with different language and culture provokes considerable objections from public opinion in Greece. The Greek objections are not about denying the country’s right to independence or rejecting effective cooperation with the northern neighbour, but a wish to express the idea, by adding concepts such as ‘Vardar’, Skopje’ or ‘North’, that the state with the constitutional name of ‘Republic of Macedonia’ does not include the whole area that is regarded historically as Macedonia.

Under an interim agreement the United Nations has since 1993 provisionally designated the country as the ‘Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia’, often presented as the English abbreviation ‘FYRoM’, which is totally mystifying to public opinion both at home and abroad. However, the United States, Russian Federation, People’s Republic of China and even a number of EU Member States use the constitutional name of ‘Republic of Macedonia’, omitting the reference to the previous administrative situation included in the term ‘FYRoM’. Historical references of this kind are unusual. Moreover there is in Europe, in addition to the independent state of Luxembourg, also an adjoining Belgian province with the same name, while the independent state of Moldova coincides with the use of the same name for the north-east of neighbouring Romania. Again, the state of Azerbaijan, geographically part of Europe, bears the same name as two adjoining provinces of Iran. In all these cases the repeated use of the same name causes no problems. Clearly therefore, in this case the dispute is not so much over a name as over fears of claims on territory.

In this connection it is much to be regretted that the national airport, located to the east of Skopje, which until December 2006 was known as Aerodrom Skopje or Petrovec Airport, has since then been dubbed Alexander the Great (Aleksandar Veliki). This symbol gives rise to confusion with the existing international airport of Megas Alexandros to the east of the northern Greek city of Kavala, a name with the same meaning. For the sake of mutual confidence it is important that before accession to the EU a bilateral agreement is concluded between the two countries over the use of names in their mutual relations and over the removal of any continuing misunderstandings or irritations concerning symbols and territorial claims.

5. Other considerations

The EU Schengen States’ visa regime and the even more stringent conditions that Greece imposes on admissions is causing annoyance and isolating a young generation to a much greater extent than their parents once were from their European surroundings. While integration with the EU is not being speeded up, orientation towards the United States is increasing. This has found expression, amongst other things, in agreements not to hand over any American to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague and in the abduction of the German citizen Khaled el-Masri to CIA investigators in Afghanistan. More positively, participation in the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) and the Central European Free Trade Association (CEFTA), which is linked with the EU, may help to revive and strengthen the economy, which has been ailing since 1991. Internal legal certainty will increase this effect more than the current aim of reducing tax rates to the extremely low level of 10 %.

PROCEDURE

Title	The 2006 Progress Report on the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
Procedure number	2006/2289(INI)
Committee responsible   Date authorisation announced in plenary	AFET 14.12.2006
Committee(s) asked for opinion(s)   Date announced in plenary
Not delivering opinion(s)   Date of decision
Rapporteur(s)   Date appointed	Erik Meijer 13.9.2004
Discussed in committee	8.5.2007		4.6.2007
Date adopted	5.6.2007
Result of final vote	+ - 0	59 4 0
Members present for the final vote	Roberta Alma Anastase, Christopher Beazley, Angelika Beer, Panagiotis Beglitis, Bastiaan Belder, André Brie, Elmar Brok, Véronique De Keyser, Giorgos Dimitrakopoulos, Hanna Foltyn-Kubicka, Michael Gahler, Bronisław Geremek, Alfred Gomolka, Klaus Hänsch, Richard Howitt, Anna Ibrisagic, Jelko Kacin, Georgios Karatzaferis, Bogdan Klich, Helmut Kuhne, Vytautas Landsbergis, Francisco José Millán Mon, Pasqualina Napoletano, Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck, Raimon Obiols i Germà, Vural Öger, Cem Özdemir, Ioan Mircea Paşcu, Alojz Peterle, João de Deus Pinheiro, Hubert Pirker, Samuli Pohjamo, Michel Rocard, Raül Romeva i Rueda, Libor Rouček, José Ignacio Salafranca Sánchez-Neyra, Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, György Schöpflin, Hannes Swoboda, István Szent-Iványi, Charles Tannock, Inese Vaidere, Geoffrey Van Orden, Ari Vatanen, Jan Marinus Wiersma, Josef Zieleniec
Substitute(s) present for the final vote	Laima Liucija Andrikienė, Alexandra Dobolyi, Árpád Duka-Zólyomi, Kinga Gál, Milan Horáček, Evgeni Kirilov, Jaromír Kohlíček, Erik Meijer, Doris Pack, Athanasios Pafilis, Józef Pinior, Dariusz Rosati, Aloyzas Sakalas, Inger Segelström, Adrian Severin, Csaba Sándor Tabajdi, Marcello Vernola
Substitute(s) under Rule 178(2) present for the final vote
Date tabled	8.6.2007