Thirteen Countries on the Doorstep of the European Union

Ljubljana, 24 October - At the Brussels summit scheduled for 24 and 25 October, EU leaders are to pronounce themselves on the recommendations of the European Commission for EU enlargement according to which the EU should be joined in 2004 by ten new countries: Slovenia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Estonia, Cyprus, Malta, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia. The Commission supports the goal set by Romania and Bulgaria to join the Union in 2007, but it has not recommended that the EU bind itself to this date. No date has as yet been put forward for Turkey.