The European Parliament marked the 20th anniversary of the European Union's largest-ever enlargement on Wednesday during its final plenary session before the elections.
On 1 May 2004, the EU welcomed the likes of Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia – referred to at the time as the "big bang" enlargement.
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, former Parliament President Pat Cox, and former Commission President Romano Prodi alongside representatives from the ten countries that joined, participated in a formal sitting in Strasbourg on Wednesday to mark the 20th anniversary of the enlargement.
Accession ceremony welcoming 10 new member states into the European Union in 2004. Credit: EP Photo
In her speech to MEPs, Metsola marked the profound change experienced by these countries since joining, asserting that "the transformative effect of EU enlargement on the lives of generations of Europeans is without any doubt."
She also honoured the rights and opportunities that are now offered after the enlargement to "young and old citizens alike", thanks to the effects of "the Single Market for EU economies and the cohesion policy to try and ensure equality for all Europeans."
'Most consequential elections'
The former President of the Parliament Pat Cox, praised the achievements of the EU's 2004 enlargement Member States while also highlighting the fact that they had all applied for membership, in a unveiled nod to the Kremlin.
"[The European Union] is a voluntary union of free and sovereign peoples – free to join, free to leave. As war returns to our continent, what a total contrast to Russia's aggression against Ukraine, where the imperial and deceitful unity proposed by Vladimir Putin is coming from the barrel of a gun."
Former European Parliament President Peter Cox at the 20th Anniversary of the 2004 EU Enlargement. Credit: EP Photo
Cox warned the hemicycle that the multi-polar world is transforming into "multi-order world" where countries are now increasingly contesting multilateralism. Today in the West, public opinion, politics and governments today are "more focused on vulnerabilities", sliding towards isolationism and away from the "interdependence of the early decades of this century."
This year, Europe, the USA and elsewhere in the world are facing the most consequential elections of the modern era, he stressed. These risks also underpin why the EU must assist the current accession candidate countries towards membership, while preparing the EU's institutional and financial capacity to absorb them, Cox concluded.
In one part of the ceremony, the many guests answered questions from a group of 20-year-olds from the then-new Member States, all born on or around 1 May 2004.
