EU enlargement to the East
At 12 am Central European time on May 1, 2004 the EU will officially welcome 10 new full members. Although this day will not be remembered in history with the same emotion as the fall of the Berlin Wall, May 1 will be memorable for millions of people who lived under socialist regime as the day their counties finally severe the last link with their past of Soviet satellites, as the day they become part of the exclusive club of rich and powerful European countries.
While tomorrow will be full of excitement, the accession of the 10 will require the EU to deal with a number of issues. Although each of the EU candidates undergoes rigorous accession process of bringing their economic and political systems to EU norms, most former socialist countries still need to work on several fronts (using EU funding), such as: economic environment, rights of minorities, environmental protection, etc.
The EU itself needs to resolve issues with its Constitution, decision-making process and accession of new members. Other issues such as adoption of the EURO currency and free labour movements are also knocking on the door.
Bulgaria and Romania are on course for accession in 2007. Croatia will most likely join immediately after. However, there are fears that once the EU faces the difficulties with the accession of the first 10 new members, it will tighten the accession process for new candidates. So, who knows how soon the next EU enlargement will be.
Read more: EU counts down to historic moment, History in the making as EU grows, Q&A: EU enlargement, Enlarging Europe, Migration and EU enlargement, EU EXPANDS: Enlargement May Limit Development
Follow-up: New system 'may delay EU entries'