The European Commission has recommended that 10 applicant
countries should join the EU in two years, which will take its
total number of Member States to 25. Cyprus, the Czech Republic,
Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and
Slovenia are expected to conclude negotiations with the Commission
on accession to the Union by the end of the year.
The Commission also pledged to strongly support Bulgaria and
Romania in achieving their objective to join the EU by 2007.
Regarding Turkey, the report states that the country does not yet
meet the political criteria to start entry negotiations.
It recommends, however, that the EU should “enhance its support”
for Turkey’s pre-accession preparations and provide additional
resources for this purpose.
