Brussels, May 8th, 2008 - At the initiative of Romanian MEP Renate Weber (NLP, ALDE), a letter was sent today to the European Commission's President, Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, requesting a public stand on the discriminatory statments made in the past few weeks by the European Commissioner for Justice, Franco Frattini, regarding Romanians in Italy.

The letter is signed by 20 MEPs from the ALDE Group, representing ten EU countries (Romania, Sweden, Great Britain, Holland, Slovenie, Austria, Hungary, Spain, Denmark, Belgium), most deputies being the heads of national ALDE delegations from their respective countries.

The signatories represent 1/5 of the ALDE group members, among them being Diana Wallis, vice-president of the European Parliament and Baronescc Emma Nicholson.

Attached - the facsimile of the letter (including the signatures of the 20 MEPs) and the Romanian version of the letter.