The European Parliament,

A. having regard to the elections to be held in Romania on 20 May and in Bulgaria on 10 June this year,

B. having regard to the physical violence directed against some of the candidates, in particular those belonging to the Liberal Party and the Peasants' Party and the destruction of the headquarters of some parties in Romania,

C. whereas in Romania and Bulgaria broad sections of the population and even international observers have pointed out that the electoral campaigns are not proceeding in accordance with truly democratic criteria, since some of the elements closest to the present governments are being favoured by the media,

D. having regard to the fears expressed by the opposition that the results of the elections may be rigged, as happened in 1946,

E. having regard to the forthcoming visit by its delegation which will act as an observer during the elections to be held in Romania and Bulgaria,

F. having regard to its previous resolutions on Romania and Bugaria,

1. calls on the Romanian authoritiees to do everything in their power to put an end to the various forms of intimidation directed against the candidates in the forthcoming elections;

2. calls on the Romanian authorities to ensure that the results of the election are free from rigging;

3. calls on the Romanian and Bulgarian authorities to do their utmost to ensure that all the candidates may compete in the elections on an equal footing, regardlees of wheter they belong to government or opposition parties;

4. calls on all the international observers present in the two countries to try to ensure that campaigning, voting, the couting of votes and the publication of results are carried out as democratically and correctly as possible;

5. instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Romanian and Bulgarian governments and the international observers who are to visit Romania and Bulgaria during the elections.