20 years since the EU’s biggest enlargement

Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia all have one thing in common:

They have been EU members for exactly 20 years.

On 1 May 2004, the promised door to the EU opened, they became part of the internal market, and the EU gained 75 million new inhabitants.

– Important promise

Thus, the EU kept an important promise, emphasized the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen in her speech when the event was marked in the EU Parliament last week.

Since 2004, three more countries have joined – Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia, while one country, the United Kingdom, has left the Union.

Since joining, the economies of the EU’s youngest member state have flourished. Agriculture has tripled, while unemployment figures have halved.

But the expansion has also been a good thing for the rest of the EU, according to von der Leyen.

Don’t stop

– People and companies across Europe have been given new opportunities to study and work, export and invest in a larger union, she maintained in her speech.

She also points out that the new members are a strength for the EU at a time of increasing geopolitical tensions.

And there is no end to expansions, according to the commission president.

– Today, the desire to unite Europe and make our union complete is more important than ever, she emphasized in the speech.

Casts shadows

But the war in Ukraine casts shadows over the celebrations. After Russia’s invasion, the EU countries decided in record time to open membership negotiations with Ukraine at the summit last December.

At a commemoration in the European Council on Tuesday evening, Vice-President of the European Commission Vera Jourova from the Czech Republic pointed out that EU membership provides protection.

– It means that imperialist Russia will not take us back, she said.

European happiness

There are also praises for the expansion from other quarters. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier describes it as “a moment of European happiness”, according to the DPA news agency.

– The EU enlargement at the time is, I believe, a very impressive example of a magnificent and successful transformation of Europe, which finally managed to break down the barriers from the Cold War, he says, referring to the incorporation of many former Eastern Bloc countries.

Further expansion is also important for Steinmeier.

– Germany supports the inclusion of the candidate countries in the Western Balkans and Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, he says.