An Overview of the Treaty of Accession of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia to the European Union. EIPA Working Paper 03/W/03

Ivanica, Madalina. (2003) An Overview of the Treaty of Accession of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia to the European Union. EIPA Working Paper 03/W/03.

Abstract

[From the Introduction]. Six applicant countries - Hungary, Poland, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Cyprus started the accession negotiations on 31 March 1998. On 13 October 1999, the Commission recommended Member States to open negotiations with Romania, the Slovak Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Malta. Negotiations were completed in December 2002 with ten candidate countries: Hungary, Poland, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Cyprus, the Slovak Republic, Latvia, Lithuania and Malta. In April 2003, in Athens, the Treaty of Accession was signed by the present 15 member states and by the 10 acceding countries. For the first time in history, EU is incorporating 10 countries at once, while before, the maximum number of countries admitted was limited to 3. For the 10 acceding countries, only one treaty was issued.