Nearly 13 years after the Berlin wall came down, the former communist countries of Eastern Europe, plus Cyprus and Malta, were told this week that they were sufficiently democratic and free-market orientated to join the European Union. Their date with destiny is 2004.
The European Commission announced that 10 countries are ready to join, taking the membership to 25.
It recommended that an accession treaty should be signed next year.
With a combined population of 75-million, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Cyprus and Malta will swell the EU’s collective population to more than 450-million.
There was good news, too, for two other former communist states — Romania and Bulgaria — who were told the commission would do everything in its power to see them join in 2007. But Turkey, which is straining at the bit to join, faced disappointment. It was not even given a date for membership talks to begin, but was told it had a long way to go.
Speaking to a packed and excited European Parliament, the commission President, Romano Prodi, called the enlargement ”Europe’s political masterpiece … an example to the world and a visionary act: for the first time it unites the whole continent. We are protagonists in the face of history once again.
”Less than 13 years ago Berlin was still divided by the wall of shame. The wall has fallen, Germany has been reunified and we have restored the historical unity of the peoples of Europe. ”Our common destiny is once again to build a common future. A future built on shared fundamental values: those of peace, democracy, the rule of law, human rights and the protection of minorities.”
Member states must now bless the expansion and are expected to do so at their summit in December.
The candidate countries reacted with quiet satisfaction, confident that years of pain and haggling had generated an unstoppable momentum for their admission.
The newly elected Prime Minister of Slovakia, Mikulas Dzurinda, said: ”Slovakia is now standing in front of the doors leading to the historic enlargement and unification of Europe.”
The 10 cannot afford to sit back, however: the offer is conditional and the commission outlined measures they must take to make the grade, notably stamping out corruption and human trafficking and upgrading their civil services to incorporate the 80000 pages of EU law. The pressure will remain until the very end, the commission presenting a final progress report six months before the joining date.
Nor will the 10 be able to relax once they are in. For the first two years the EU will reserve the right to take ”swift and purposeful measures” if its single market is being distorted by the newcomers.
Gary Titley, leader of the Labour MEPs, said: ”These countries have been preparing for this moment for the past decade and gone through all kinds of agonies. We have to seize the moment.” — (c) Guardian Newspaper 2002